We have extended this consultation. The original closing date was 10 October.
Overview
The Australian Space Agency’s Office of the Space Regulator (OSR) is consulting on updates to the Australian Flight Safety Code (FSC). The FSC underpins the nation’s space safety framework, established by the Space (Launches and Returns) Act 2018 and subordinate rules.
We released the current version 3.0 of the FSC in 2019. Since then, the space sector and the OSR have gained substantial experience applying the FSC. This includes through:
sub-orbital and orbital launches
re-entries
payload deployments on foreign launches vehicles.
Foreign regulatory frameworks have also evolved rapidly over this time.
We consulted on improvements to the FSC in 2023, with 13 organisations giving feedback. Common feedback themes included:
clarifications of terminology or intent (38%)
improved flight safety guidance (23%)
improvements to the regulatory process (21%).
We did not publish an updated FSC at the time.
Proposed updates to the FSC
We plan on making 2 updates to the FSC over the next 12 months.
The first update, Version 4.0 includes updates based on insights and lessons learned over the past 6 years, including from the 2023 consultation:
enhancing clarity, with additional definitions or explanations of terminology
updating Flight Safety System standards, commensurate with global practice
adding launch and return collision avoidance requirements, reflecting existing industry practice
changes to the critical assets process and definition
typographical corrections or missing references.
Read the proposed changes in Flight Safety Code Version 4.0 [1.9MB DOCX] in track change. For the tracked changes to be visible, we recommend downloading the document and opening on your desktop application.
Version 4.1 aims to further improve the FSC, including but not limited to:
inclusion of aircraft and maritime risk standards
other matters raised during the version 4.0 consultation.
Information session
We held an online public information session on the proposed version 4.0 on 15 September 2025. The transcript and a slide deck are available below. We will publish a list of questions and answers from the session in the coming days.