Organizational Meeting To Be Held October 24

With support from industry and government leaders, ASTM International will host an organizational meeting to potentially create a new technical committee that develops voluntary consensus standards for commercial spaceflight.

This meeting comes in part as a result of the updated U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act of 2015 (CSLCA).  The FAA's Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC) is recommending the organization of the new group.
 
The no-fee meeting is Monday, Oct. 24, at 1 pm EDT at RTCA Inc. in Washington, D.C. Industry stakeholders and others interested in charting a path towards standardization for commercial spaceflight are welcome to attend.
 
Consensus standards from organizations like ASTM International are known to enhance safety and efficiency in aerospace.  New standards could support the growing number of people and entities who design, manufacture, and operate commercial space vehicles for both human and unmanned flights. Human spaceflight occupant safety will be an area of immediate focus, according to those who have expressed initial interest.
 
The objectives of the meeting are to:

• bring an array of industry experts together;
• identify specific standards needs;
• determine if ASTM International should formally launch a new activity; and, if so,
• develop and approve title, scope, and structure of a new technical committee.

DeJong, director of business development, notes that ASTM International stands ready to accommodate this new effort. With nearly 150 committees and more than 12,000 standards in its portfolio, ASTM International is one of the world’s largest developers of globally recognized standards and related products and services. It provides a management system to develop standards for materials, products, systems, and services across many industries.
 
ASTM International meets the World Trade Organization (WTO) principles for developing international standards, and ASTM standards are used globally in research and development, product testing, quality systems, commercial transactions, and more.

FMI: www.astm.org