Founded | 2005 |
---|---|
Type | Non-profit Trade Association |
Purpose | "To promote the development of commercial human spaceflight, pursue ever higher levels of safety, and share best practices and expertise throughout the industry." [1] |
Location |
|
Area served | United States |
Members | 80+ |
Key people | Karina Drees (President) |
Website | commercialspaceflight |
The Commercial Spaceflight Federation is a private spaceflight industry group, incorporated as an industry association for the purposes of establishing ever higher levels of safety for the commercial human spaceflight industry, sharing best practices and expertise, and promoting the growth of the industry worldwide. [2] [3] [4] Issues that the Commercial Spaceflight Federation work on include, but are not limited to, airspace issues, FAA regulations and permits, industry safety standards, public outreach, and public advocacy for the commercial space sector. [5] [6]
In 2005, Peter Diamandis and John Gedmark from the X Prize Foundation convened a group of leaders in the emerging personal spaceflight industry, held at SpaceX's headquarters in El Segundo, California. Attendees at the meeting included SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Virgin Galactic's Alex Tai, aviation pioneer Burt Rutan, businessman Robert Bigelow, and entrepreneur John Carmack. [7] The goal of what was then called the Personal Spaceflight Federation was to "design and uphold the standards and processes necessary to ensure public safety and promote growth of the personal spaceflight industry." [8]
On August 22, 2006, the PSF laid out their priorities as: [9]
On June 15, 2008, the Personal Spaceflight Federation announced a new website and a new name—the Commercial Spaceflight Federation—to emphasize "the diverse business activities of the commercial human spaceflight industry." [10] The areas the CSF now represented include:
On August 10, 2009, the CSF announced the creation of the Suborbital Applications Research Group (SARG). [11] On February 18, 2010, the CSF announced a new research and education affiliates program. [12]
United Launch Alliance joined in 2010, [13] followed by Boeing's membership in 2013, [14] but both left by 2014. [15] The X Prize Foundation left by around 2016. [16]
The Commercial Spaceflight Federation has seven committees composed of their members and staff that are working to address the most pressing issues facing the industry. Participation in these committees is open to Executive and Associate members. [25]
Within CSF's Export Control Committee, members work with industry experts from a variety of government agencies (including The Departments of State and Commerce) to promote modernization of Export Control policy and procedures in regards to the commercial space industry. The committee aims to assist American companies to remain competitive leaders in the global market and to advance innovation and technology overall. The committee also serves as a point of reference for adherence to current legislation and policy.
The Government Funding Committee works to secure funding for the major governmental space agencies, NASA and FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST). They monitor the budget requests of these agencies and work with legislative and executive contacts to ensure lack of funding does not impede advancement of the commercial space sector.
CSF's Regulatory Committee collaborates to prepare information for and present a united position to legislative, executive and regulatory agencies. The committee works to get legislation passed that will benefit the space industry.
With the help of experienced aerospace professionals and standards development organizations, the members of the Industry Standards Committee work together to research and design industry consensus safety standards. These standards ensure the safety of spaceflight participants, provide the FAA with means of compliance, and can be used in the future to assist in creating regulations.
The Space Commerce Committee serves as the industry point of contact for legislative agencies. When issues arise that affect space commerce, such as the legal framework for resources mined from asteroids, the members author reports that agencies can use to prepare appropriate legislation.
The Commercial Spaceflight Federation's Spaceports Committee focuses on a wide variety of issues facing the spaceport community including environmental, infrastructure, and regulatory topics.
The Small Sats Committee identifies and proposes consensus solutions to address potential issues that could hamper the commercial space industry's growth. The committee focuses on multiple topics including regulations, licensing, permitting, sector outreach and promotion, and more.
CSF members are responsible for the creation of thousands of high-tech jobs. [26] Members are over 80 industry organizations involved in commercial spaceflight and private spaceflight, often referred to as new space. [27]
There are four tiers of CSF membership, with each having different requirements and perks. The highest tier is Executive Membership, which is generally reserved for commercial spaceflight developers, operators, and spaceports. [28] Below Executive members are Associate Members, which is composed of suppliers supporting commercial spaceflight, with recent members including suppliers of mission support services and suppliers of training, medical and life-support products and services. The third tier of membership is called Research and Education Affiliates (REM for short), and this tier is occupied by Universities, educational and student nonprofits, and other research and education institutions. The fourth tier of CSF membership is the Patrons Program. This tier is distinct from the rest in the sense that it is composed of individuals rather than corporate entities.
Executive Membership is the highest level of membership offered at the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. At this level, members have an exclusive seat on the CSF Board of Directors.
(Updated January 12, 2021): [27]
The second highest tier, Associate members are invited to participate on the seven CSF committees: Export Control, Government Funding, Regulatory, Space Commerce, Spaceports, Standards, and Small Satellites.
(Updated January 12, 2021): [27]
The Research and Education Affiliates is primarily for "Researchers, engineers, and educators." [12]
(Updated January 12, 2021): [27]
The Patron Program is unique in that it allows for individual membership, unlike other membership categories, which are reserved for corporations, and organizations. [29]
The Suborbital Applications Researchers Group (SARG) was created on August 10, 2009 to "increase awareness of commercial suborbital vehicles in the science and R&D communities, to work with policymakers to ensure that payloads can have easy access to these vehicles, and to further develop ideas for the uses of these vehicles for science, engineering, and education missions." [11]
Member | Affiliation |
---|---|
Michael Banish | University of Alabama in Huntsville |
Sean Casey | Silicon Valley Space Center |
Steven Collicott | Purdue University |
Marsh Cuttino | Orbital Medicine |
Adrienne Dove | University of Central Florida |
Steve Heck | The Arete STEM Project and Foundation |
Anna-Lisa Paul | University of Florida |
Bobby Russell | Questforstars |
Tommy Sanford | Commercial Spceflight Federation |
Mark Shelhamer | Johns Hopkins University |
H. Todd Smith | JHU Applied Physics Laboratory |
Constantine Tsang | Southwest Research Institute |
Charlie Walker | Independent Consultant & Speaker |
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