Towards a new French Technical Regulation adapted to the newspace – orbital systems

Abstract

In the current context of the multiplication of space actors and orbital projects, the French space ecosystem is fully aware that the challenge ahead will be to ensure the safety and sustainability of space activities. Within the framework of France national law governing space operations and its Technical Regulation, CNES Space Safety Office has been working since 2020 to implement new technical requirements adapted to the NewSpace for the control and return to Earth of space objects.

The process of elaboration of these new technical requirements is broken down into several steps: identification of the problematics/themes, translation of these problematics into macroscopic needs and then into specific technical requirements, justification by appropriate studies, implementation through handbooks or tools, and definition of an applicability milestone.

On the one hand, the technical aspects are assessed thanks to the support of CNES technical services in the framework of specific working groups, studies ordered by the Space Safety Office, or analysis of international publications. On the other hand, the operators’ views and their programmatic constraints are taken into account – in parallel with the monitoring of international standards – in order to maximize the operators’ acceptance and to minimize the risks of competition bias for the French ecosystem while not losing sight of the objective of safety and sustainability in space. In this context, the awareness of these private actors and their consultation are at the heart of the process of elaborating new technical requirements and their implementation schedule.