WASHINGTON — The Republican leadership of the House Science Committee has introduced laws that will create a mission authorization system for industrial space activities and alter plans for an area traffic coordination system.
Reps. Brian Babin (R-Texas) and Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), the chairs of the House Science Committee space subcommittee and the complete committee, respectively, introduced the Industrial Space Act of 2023 Nov. 2. The bill could also be considered by the committee as soon as this week, although a markup has not yet been announced.
“This bill crafts a positive and competitive environment right here at home by streamlining our regulatory process and clarifying federal roles in licensing industrial space activities,” Lucas said within the statement concerning the bill.
A key a part of the bill could be to create a “certification” process for industrial spacecraft not licensed by other agencies, equivalent to the Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Communications Commission or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Corporations would supply basic details about their spacecraft to the Office of Space Commerce, including a debris mitigation plan, and the office would have 60 days to either grant or deny the applying.
The certification process is meant to handle uncertainty about who’s responsible in the federal government for providing authorization and continuing supervision of economic space activities, as required under Article 6 of the Outer Space Treaty, but not currently regulated by other agencies. The National Space Council is working by itself approach, which it calls mission authorization, but has yet to publish a proposal.
“To proceed strengthening American leadership in space, we must modernize our industrial space framework. The Industrial Space Act will just do that by addressing outdated laws, enhancing innovation, and ensuring our partners should not stymied by regulatory hurdles,” Babin said in an announcement concerning the bill.
One other section of the bill addresses civil space situational awareness (SSA) work led by the Office of Space Commerce. The bill would direct the office to pick a consortium led by an instructional or nonprofit organization to supply SSA “data, information and services.” That will appear to supersede the office’s own work on an SSA system, called the Traffic Coordination System for Space, currently in development.
The bill would elevate the Office of Space Commerce, currently inside NOAA, into the major Department of Commerce, with the director of the office reporting on to the Secretary of Commerce. That had long been sought by advocates of the office to raise its profile.
The bill includes several other provisions. One would direct NASA to determine a “Space Situational Awareness Institute” that will lead research on improving SSA. The bill extends the “learning period” restricting the FAA’s ability to manage industrial spaceflight participant safety from Jan. 1, 2024, to Oct. 1, 2031, a long-term extension that many in industry have sought.
One other section of the bill would establish latest requirements if the USA signs on to any non-binding international agreement on norms or rules of behavior in space. Specifically, it might require the president to certify to relevant congressional committees that the agreement is non-binding and for other agencies to verify that the agreement has “no economically significant impact” on the power of U.S. non-governmental entities to work in space.