The UK Civil Aviation Authority is Streamlining its Space Launch Licensing Process, Following Complaints
The UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is taking steps to streamline its licensing procedures, following complaints about it delaying launches from Great Britain. The issue of CAA delays was cited in the Parliamentary report into the failed Virgin Orbit launch attempt from a 747 on January 9, 2023, which took off from Spaceport Cornwall. Although the failure was due to the satellites aboard the LauncherOne rocket not attaining orbit and not in any way caused by the CAA, the report by the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee of the UK House of Commons noted that the original November 2022 launch date had been postponed due to CAA licensing delays.
“The evidence that we have taken indicated that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) got off to a slow start with implementing the spaceflight regulations,” said the ‘UK Space Strategy and UK Satellite Infrastructure: Reviewing the Licencing Regime for Launch’ report, which was issued on July 14, 2023. The Committee noted that “the CAA has taken steps to expand its team dedicated to space launch and to improve its engagement with licence applicants … However, more can be done to streamline the regulatory process to help ensure that the UK launch sector can reach its full potential.”
Acknowledging the delays, CAA officials say that they’re currently taking steps to solve the issue and prevent similar delays in the future.
“In relation to regulation, we are always learning and improving and have been making improvements to the licensing process and learned many lessons from Virgin Orbit’s launch,” Rosemary Whitbread, the CAA’s Head of Space Regulatory Policy, told SpaceRef. “We continue to work with industry to streamline the process and welcome feedback from across the industry to improve the process further while retaining the vital focus on safety.”
Since the CAA assumed the role of UK space regulator two years ago, “we have already made significant improvements,” she added. These include supporting industry requests to develop shared documentation required for their applications (e.g., assessment of Environmental Impacts, Safety Cases, and Security programs); working with other UK regulators to avoid overlap (Marine licensing, Health & Safety Executive), and “adapting the documentary requirements when applying for a license to reduce the upfront administrative burden on industry,” said Whitbread.
“This change has been recognized and the recent Science, Innovation and Technology Committee report took evidence from across industry and reported that ‘the regulatory experiences of the UK launch sector are moving in a positive direction, and we encourage the Civil Aviation Authority to continue this trajectory.’”
Streamlining the CAA’s space launch licensing procedure is just one of the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee’s recommendations. The report states that “Throughout the licensing process, the Civil Aviation Authority should seek to keep license applicants informed about the progress of their application and likely timelines for receiving their licenses.”.
The UK government should also ensure that all government agencies involved with the country’s space policies work together, so that launch companies can file their information once, rather than “in different formats, to multiple organisations.” As well, it called for the British government to “address how it intends to support the UK launch sector during the years ahead. It should set out, in response to this Report, whether it will provide ongoing financial support and in what form that support will take.”
