A number of short generations ago, space was inaccessible. Probably the most we could do to explore beyond our planet was to look on the sky through land-based telescopes. Then, within the span of my lifetime, advances in rocketry made it possible for us to launch satellites, spacecraft, and even humans beyond our atmosphere. And while the drive to achieve ever farther into space persists, the environment wherein we’re operating has modified.
Prior to now, government programs and missions drove our progress in space activities. Today, nonetheless, we see advances driven by entrepreneurship and the ingenuity of the private sector.
We now live in a space-based economy. Satellites are providing every part from web access to GPS guidance to storm tracking. You’d be hard-pressed to get through your day without counting on space-based services.
Some estimates project that the worldwide space industry will probably be value greater than $1 trillion by 2040. If we would like the USA to reap the rewards of this economic boom, we must ensure a healthy environment exists for this sector to grow and thrive here. Doing so will profit not only our country as an entire but in addition the Lone Star State – where a couple of in ten U.S. space industry jobs are situated. A strong American space industry guarantees the identical in Texas.
Nonetheless, the necessity for U.S. leadership in space goes far beyond the direct economic advantages. The country that leads the best way in space exploration sets the standards for a way we operate there. On the one hand, you may have the values of freedom, transparency, and open science shared by America and our allies. On the opposite, the authoritarian regime of the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army.
To support U.S. space exploration, Congress has passed laws that lays a foundation for a way this enterprise can operate.
The last law to support America’s business space growth was enacted in 2015—a lifetime ago for an modern industry like this. In that bill, we encouraged private sector investment in space activities, created more stable and predictable regulatory conditions, and ensured a continued concentrate on safety.
Now, eight years later, it’s time to reevaluate how we are able to proceed supporting America’s business space sector and construct on that laws. Because the Chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, I’ve joined our Committee Chairman, Frank Lucas, to introduce a bill that does just that.
Our current laws modernizes our laws to proceed achieving these goals in a number of key ways. It establishes a certification process for brand spanking new and ongoing activities in space, providing certainty for our expanding business space sector. It improves our space situational awareness, which aids us in reducing risks of orbital debris. It extends the training period for business human spaceflight so we are able to proceed to innovate on this flourishing sector. And at last, it makes sure we’re operating inside our international treaty obligations, which helps ensure American firms can operate in space without worry of international interference.
In brief, it reduces red tape, promotes safety, and encourages the subsequent generation of explorers.
If future generations are going to witness anything near the identical level of accomplishment in space that I even have seen in my lifetime, we must pass this critical piece of laws to enable America’s continued expansion of modern activities in space.