The Space Industry Regulations 2021

Identification of hazard areas

47.—(1) This regulation applies where the licensee’s range control services consist of or include identifying a volume of airspace or an area or areas of land or sea falling within the designated range (a “hazard area”) which require to be made subject to restrictions, exclusions or warnings for keeping the area clear at relevant times of—

(a) persons or things that might pose a hazard to the operator’s spaceflight activities, and

(b) persons or things to which the operator’s spaceflight activities might pose a hazard.

(2) Prior to the commencement of the operator’s spaceflight activities, the licensee must identify the dimensions, location and boundary of each hazard area and must promulgate—

(a) which part or parts of the hazard area should be designated—

(i) an exclusion zone,

(ii) a restricted zone, and

(iii) a warning zone, and

(b) the time periods within which such zones should be operative.

(3) The licensee must communicate the information in paragraph (2), in relation to each hazard area, without delay to—

(a) the regulator,

(b) the spaceflight operator,

(c) the spaceport licensee authorised to operate the spaceport at the designated site, and

(d) the relevant authorities.

(4) In paragraph (2)—

(a) an “exclusion zone” is part of a hazard area to which entry by any vehicle, ship, aircraft, or other craft, individual or domestic animal is excluded;

(b) a “restricted zone” is part of a hazard area to which entry is restricted to authorised individuals whose presence is necessary for the carrying out of spaceflight activities or for the performance of duties in connection with such activities;

(c) a “warning zone” is part of a hazard area to which entry is not restricted but which is subject to a requirement to provide a warning notice in accordance with regulation 51.