NASA’s Range Flight Safety program recently released “UAS Range Flight Safety” (SMA-AS-WBT-300) to address the Range Flight Safety aspects of flying Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) at NASA. 

The NASA Range Flight Safety Program, with support from the NASA Safety Center, recently released an update to “Range Flight Safety Analysis” (SMA-AS-WBT-435), available in SATERN. The new training includes recent policy changes, updated materials and the new Federal Aviation Administration Code of Federal Regulations Part 450 requirements. It also converts previous in-class exercises to instructor-led demonstrations.

NASA’s Range Flight Safety program recently released “UAS Range Flight Safety” (SMA-AS-WBT-300) to address the Range Flight Safety aspects of flying Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) at NASA. 

For the second straight year, XCELLENCE Awards by the Association for Unmanned Vehicles Systems International (AUVSI) awarded first place in its Operations and Safety Organization category to NASA Langley Research Center’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Operations Office. The award recognizes the office’s overall safety and oversight of all UAS operations at Langley.

NASA’s Range Flight Safety program recently released updates to two of its existing training courses: “Range Flight Safety Orientation - Web-Based” (SMA-AS-WBT-410) and “Flight Safety Systems” (SMA-AS-WBT-335). Both courses, found in SATERN, were updated to reflect recent policy changes within the program and also to shift away from videos of instructor-led courses that were hard to update as minor changes occurred within the discipline.

The NASA Range Flight Safety Program updated NPR 8715.5, Range Flight Safety Program and released the newly created NASA-STD-8719.25, Range Flight Safety Requirements, which went into effect on Feb .2 and Feb. 5, respectively. The creation of the standard and subsequent changes to the NASA Procedural Requirements (NPR) support an agency effort to ensure NPRs focus on policy and process, while standards contain technical requirements.

Attendees of the Range Commanders Council’s 117th Range Safety Group Technical Interchange Meeting last November discussed the growing relevancy of autonomous flight systems in the Range Flight Safety community, as well as related policy changes needed to accommodate the new interest. In addition, they discussed resource protection, a launch vehicle failure, and upcoming policy and risk criteria changes related to Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. The meeting was hosted by the Missile Defense Agency at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, and attended by representatives from government agencies and industries with ties to and interest in the U.S. National Test Ranges.

Representatives from government agencies attended the 115th Range Safety Group Technical Interchange Meeting last November at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico to discuss current issues, ongoing tasks and future work of the Main, Risk and Flight Termination System Committees.

As more NASA programs and projects begin using Unmanned Aircraft Systems to achieve their missions, the agency must carefully implement policies and controls to ensure safety.

NASA’s Range Safety (NRS) Program released its annual report earlier this year. The report, funded by NASA Headquarters, provides an NRS overview for current and potential range users.