ADS-B feasibility study for commercial space flight operations

This paper introduces a concept of integrating commercial space flight operations with conventional aviation operations in the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). This paper reviews the current space surveillance systems and conducts a feasibility study on the use of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) to aid the integration. The scope of this paper is focused on the surveillance services of the future suborbital commercial space vehicles (e.g., Reusable Launch Vehicles (RLVs)), commercial space flight operations inside the National Airspace System (NAS), and their impacts or potential hazards on the NAS. The objective of the study is to build a dynamic system to coordinate aircraft and commercial space vehicles simultaneously, so that the impact of the commercial space flight operations on the NAS can be minimized. A conceptual view of future space transportation system and background of ADS-B are introduced. Space flight profiles and parameters for this paper are demonstrated. ADS-B-related system issues and space-related technical issues, which need to be resolved to support commercial space flight operations are shown, and recommendations or potential solutions are given to them.