Winning the new space race with China is contingent on the competitiveness of the United States commercial space industry. While the Chinese space program enjoys the full financial and regulatory backing of its government, the U.S. space industry must grapple with burdensome regulations and oversight conducted by a confusing array of offices buried within multiple federal agencies. These offices are staffed by civil servants and regulators trying to do the right thing every day, but their efforts are often hidden and hampered by the morass of the federal bureaucracy that resists change and slows down innovation.
During the first Trump administration, our nation’s attention on the growing importance of space was brought into focus with the creation of the U.S. Space Force. Similarly, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) brought additional focus on space and satellite issues with the creation of the Space Bureau in 2023, elevating the space industry out of the “International Bureau” and creating a new organization singularly focused on the importance of space to our economy and communications landscape.
Now more than ever, a similar change is needed to focus the U.S. government’s efforts for the commercial space industry. In recognition of the growing domestic commercial space economy, the administration should elevate the Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) out of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Office of Space Commerce (OSC) out of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Both offices must report directly to the Office of the Secretary and be given the high-level attention and “seat at the table” needed for an industry so critical to our national and economic security.
Both agencies — AST and OSC — are responsible for promoting and regulating commercial space operations. And both space agencies are hidden within much larger organizations with their own important — but very different — missions. While I’m a space industry advocate and can argue with anyone about the importance of space, I am going to lose that fight every day when comparing space in our daily lives to the importance of accurate weather forecasting and safe air travel. Burying commercial space within other organizations makes it hard for our industry to gain the executive branch’s attention without there being a national disaster in space. This must change.
As a small office within the FAA, AST administers its promotional and licensing functions while being overshadowed by the FAA’s core mission of maintaining a safe and efficient airspace system and certifying air transportation vehicles and operations. Air travel and space launch and reentry are fundamentally different operations. The industries are at different states of maturity and have very different risk paradigms. It does not make sense to group these two modes of transportation under one umbrella simply because a rocket briefly transits the national airspace system. How this manifests is that AST regularly competes with other FAA offices to receive approval to undertake rulemaking proceedings, limiting AST’s ability to update and reform regulations in response to a rapidly innovating industry. In addition, in an often zero-sum budget environment, AST must compete with other FAA organizations to grow the resources and personnel needed to keep up with space licensing activities which have grown by more than 900% in the last decade.
Just a few years ago, the entire Office of Space Commerce was composed of three government employees. Since then, the administration and Congress have broadened the office’s responsibilities to include building the U.S.’s civil space situational awareness capabilities which are essential for mitigating space debris and reducing the likelihood of collisions on-orbit. The office has also taken on licensing and regulating commercial remote sensing satellites. Furthermore, the commercial space industry overwhelmingly supports OSC leading a “mission authorization” framework to provide government oversight and supervision of innovative non-governmental activities in space. Despite its growing role in supporting the commercial space industry, OSC remains a relatively minor office within the NOAA.
Of course, organizational restructuring would not resolve all issues relating to the U.S. government’s oversight of the commercial space industry. Certainly, the ongoing licensing and operational activities of both agencies must be maintained with minimal disruption as the agencies transition. Both should be granted appropriate resources to effectively complete their missions. The collaborative relationship between AST and the FAA Air Traffic Organization must be maintained. However, these short-term considerations should not outweigh the long term benefits associated with a more prominent stature within their respective departments.
The greatest obstacle to U.S. dominance remains overregulation and a lack of attention within the government supporting this increasingly critical sector. By elevating AST to a standalone agency and establishing a Bureau of Space Commerce, the U.S. would clearly demonstrate its commitment to the success of the commercial space industry.
Dave Cavossa is President of the Commercial Space Federation.
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