New Space Policy Directive Aims at Spectrum Competitiveness Globally
President Donald Trump signed a commercial space policy directive Thursday that includes having federal agencies craft a report for the White House on bettering the nation's global competitiveness for space radio frequency spectrum policies, regulation and activities at the ITU…
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and other multilateral forums. The directive said the Transportation Department is to put out a new regulatory system for launch and re-entry activity by "targeting an industry that is undergoing incredible transformation with regulations that have failed to keep up." It said the DOT secretary will consider requiring a single license for all types of commercial space flight launch and re-entry operations "and replacing prescriptive requirements in the process with performance-based criteria." It also said the Commerce Department secretary should review commercial remote sensing regulations for consistency with the directive’s policy and address non-conforming regulations. It gives the commerce secretary 30 days to craft a plan for a "one-stop shop" within the agency for administering and regulating commercial space flight activities. And it ordered the National Space Council to review export licensing regulations affecting commercial space flight activity and deliver recommendations to the White House within 180 days. Satellite Industry Association President Tom Stroup in a statement said that SIA's "delighted with the President’s recognition of the importance of the commercial space business" and it's "strongly encouraged" by the global competitiveness report directive. Commercial Spaceflight Federation Chairman Alan Stern in a statement said commercial space operations have "been innovating ... and competing around the world under the burden of regulations written decades ago, in some cases rooted in the Cold War," but now companies "can foresee a more streamlined legal and administrative regime that will allow us to continue to help transform how Americans access and use space.”