Space Traffic Boom Seen Pointing to Need for Proactive Regulation
Some kind of major space conjunction event, such as a cubesat collision with a far larger satellite, seems almost inevitable, and regulators and policymakers need to be planning for that now, said Mike Gold, chairman of the FAA Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee, at an FCBA event Thursday. However, an overreaction "will be sending jobs and capabilities overseas" to other regulatory regimes, he said.
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The U.S.' existing commercial space regulatory regime is being rapidly left behind by operations that don't fit into traditional regulatory buckets overseen by the FCC, or the departments of Commerce or Transportation, such as space tourism or commercial lunar rovers, said Andrew D'Uva, president of satellite and space consulting firm Providence Access. There are questions about whether the U.S. is fulfilling its international treaty obligations if, for example, there's no oversight of an in-orbit satellite servicing robot, beyond the FCC licensing its communications aspects, he said. Some proposed space operations, like in-orbit satellite assembly and deployment, also raise all-new liability questions that need clarity, like what nation is responsible, Gold said.
"There is no clarity of who you go to" for regulatory approval of a nontraditional mission, Gold said. The growing wave of nontraditional space ventures also is outstripping regulators' capacities, he said. The FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation "is just running out of bodies" and needs more resources "to avoid bureaucratic gridlock," he said. The FAA didn't comment.
With the growing cubesat boom, regulators must be sure to balance protection of the orbital environment with ensuring industry innovation, Gold said. D'Uva said such discussions are lagging behind industry reality: "We have launches today that create hazards." He said there needs at least to be agreement about best practices, so the launch industry can self-police and be able to turn down payloads that could negatively affect the orbital environment.
Gold said he expects to see the American Space Renaissance Act -- which among other things would boost FAA funding in order for it to be the major information disseminator about space situational awareness -- be resubmitted to Congress by year's end. House Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee member Jim Bridenstine, R-Okla., who introduced the bill in the last session of Congress, didn't comment. Gold said he also expected lawmakers to introduce more commercial space legislation.
The Defense Department's Joint Space Operations Center and the nonprofit Space Data Association do space situational awareness -- JSpOC largely with sensors, SDA using satellite operator-provided data -- but neither system is at the level of sophistication to safely guarantee safety of flight for human space travel, D'Uva said. "That's going to be present incredible stress to the system." SDA and Analytical Graphics last month announced a long-term agreement to put together a space traffic management system for SDA members. D'Uva said ultimately there need to be networks of sensors dedicated just for manned flight safety, as well as others targeting specific types of missions, in order to guarantee effective space situational awareness.