# Results of FAA Nitrous Oxide BLEVE Characterization Testing
**AGENCY:**
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), DOT.
**ACTION:**
Notice of public teleconference.
**SUMMARY:**
This notice announces a public teleconference to share with the public results of recent FAA sponsored testing of nitrous oxide (N <sub>2</sub> O) characteristics. Nitrous oxide is an important oxidizer to developers of some commercial reusable launch vehicles. A potential hazard in nitrous oxide storage and handling is a Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion (BLEVE), which results from a sudden loss of pressure in a tank containing nitrous oxide stored under pressure above its normal boiling point. The FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation sponsored tests of liquid-phase nitrous oxide at NASA's White Sands Test Facility to empirically determine the superheat limit temperature for nitrous oxide, and to demonstrate that a BLEVE would not occur if the liquid is maintained at temperatures below this superheat limit temperature.
*Meeting Information:* The teleconference is scheduled for Thursday, February 28, 2013, from 1:00-2:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The presentation and call-in number will be posted one week in advance at *http://www.ast.faa.gov/* .
**FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:**
Stewart Jackson, Division Manager, Regulations and Analysis Division, AST-300, Office of Commercial Space Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, 800 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20591, Telephone (202) 267-7903, or email at *[email protected].*
Issued in Washington, DC, on January 22, 2013.
George C. Nield,
Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation.