Rocketlab – Ministry of Transport comments to Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade 5
June 2015
Is a rocket an aircraft?
s 9(2)(h)
Brazil TSA
Below are initial comments from a member of the Ministry of Transport legal team.
Given current legislation, agreeing to the following might mean
s 9(2)(h)
S 6(b)(i)
Under the Official Information Act
s 9(2)(h)
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s 9(2)(h)
Act
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Other matters
• As an aside, the 2010 book
National Regulation of Space Activities notes the Brazil
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TSA received opposition in the Brazilian National Congress on the ground that it
would be harmful to Brazilian sovereignty. The book states “a new text is now being
negotiated by the Brazilian and U.S. Governments”. It would be interesting to verify
this claim, and whether there is an amended version of the 2000 agreement on which
to base our agreement that might be less contentious.
• We might be able to use other situations as a basis for these parts of the agreement.
For example, how does Operation Deep Freeze treat New Zealand access to US
operations? There may be an arrangement in the US-NZ Antarctic operations we
could use to improve on the Brazil agreement.
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Australia
Act
We have researched the Australian regulatory framework for space activities. Australia has
its own Space Activities Act 1998 (the Act), supported by the Space Activities Regulations
2001. This appears to fall under the purview of Department of Industry & Science, and the
Minister for Industry & Science.
The Act includes approvals for space activities, liability rules, establishes a register of space
objects, a framework for implementing space cooperation agreements, civil penalties, and
investigating accidents and incidents.
Some relevant terms from the Act:
Space licence – the Minister may grant a space licence to ‘a person’ (each operator requires
a licence, but this does not constitute permission for a launch).
Launch permit – the Minister may grant a launch permit to ‘a person’ (each launch requires
its own permit).
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Civil penalties – if these and other requirements are contravened, Minister may take
proceedings in Federal Court
Register of Space Objects – to be maintained by the Minister.
Investigator – appointed by Minister who must be satisfied the person has suitable
qualifications and experience.
Accident investigation
Official
We requested TAIC reach out to its international equivalents. The UK is only beginning to
look at this question. Australia has, however, had at least one occasion where there was a
rocket-occurrence investigated and can elaborate on how an investigation under the Act
worked. The following is from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB).
the
“Like TAIC, the ATSB does not investigate rocket-related accidents and incidents under its
Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003. Under this legislation, rockets are not defined as
‘aircraft’.
Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) investigation BO/200105636. This was an
investigation into a rocket anomaly involving a HyShot rocket at Woomera, South Australia
on 30 October 2001. The investigation report is available on the ATSB website at
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http://www.atsb.gov.au/media/36170/sir200206 001.pdf. In a nutshell, the ATSB was asked
if it would carry out the investigation by the then Minister for Industry, Science and
Resources. That request was made under the
Space Activities Act 1998 (the Act) and the
Space Activities Regulations 2001. The nature of the ATSB involvement and the legislative
cover is covered off quite clearly in the investigation report on our website.”
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To summarise the introduction to the report, the Minister for Industry, Science and
Resources appointed an ATSB investigator to investigate the occurrence under the Act. The Act
Investigator was provided with technical and general assistance by:
i. Space Licensing and Safety Office; [within the Dpt of Industry & Science]
ii. University of Queensland;
iii. Department of Defence;
iv. Astrotech Space Operations Inc (USA);
v. Federal Aviation Administration (USA);
vi. Bureau of Meteorology;
vii. QinetiQ (UK);
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viii. Aerosafe Risk Management;
ix. National Transportation Safety Board (USA); and
x. Australian Transport Safety Bureau.
MoT comment – we would expect to see a range of parties/expertise potentially involved in
an accident investigation involving rockets in New Zealand.
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