White House releases mandate policy framework

The White House in Washington is releasing a policy framework to accompany its proposals for oversight of new commercial space activities.

The framework will be announced at a National Space Council meeting on December 20 and is intended to be released alongside a separate mission authorization legislative proposal to be released on November 15. The proposal would share responsibility between the Departments of Commerce and Transportation for the authorization and ongoing oversight of currently unregulated commercial space activities.

The policy framework, which the White House described in a fact sheet as a companion to the legislative proposal, will enable the executive branch to better prepare for and shape the future regulatory environment for space.

A key element of the framework is the establishment of an interagency steering group on private sector space activities, co-chaired by the secretaries of Commerce and Transportation in consultation with the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. The group will include several cabinet-level departments as well as NASA and other federal agencies with expertise or equity in new private-sector space activities.

The steering group will coordinate strategies related to emerging private sector space capabilities that are nascent or under development, the framework states. This includes working with the private sector to develop best practices, standards, and information-sharing protocols that are of core interest to the U.S. Government’s new space activities.

In turn, this information will provide industry guidance to the commerce and transportation sectors and be incorporated into their regulatory processes. Other agencies should consider incorporating these best practices, standards and protocols into their own processes, and the State Department should promote them internationally, the document adds.

While legislation is required for a mature mandate regime, the Policy Framework calls on the Department of Commerce and Transport and other agencies to use their existing statutory powers to provide guidance to the private sector on these best practices and standards.

As part of the oversight process, the framework also directs commerce and transport departments to minimize burdens on industry. This will involve coordinating their respective rulemaking processes and establishing strict timelines for application review, assuming expedited review approval.

The policy framework states that the U.S. Government’s Orbital Debris Mitigation Standard Practices (ODMSP) are the guidance government agencies should use when regulating private space activities. It calls on multiple agencies to determine whether the ODMSP should be updated every two years (last updated in late 2019).

Another element of the policy is for the Commerce Department to create a list of non-government space businesses, indicating that the government would benefit from such a centralized repository. It did not specify what information about private space operations should be included in the database.

The release of the policy framework comes as the White House faces opposition to its legislative proposals that would give the commerce and transportation sectors legal authority to oversee commercial space activities that are currently unlicensed. The House Science Committee approved its own commercial space bill on a party-line vote on Nov. 29, which would give mission authority entirely to the Commerce Department.

During a Dec. 13 hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee’s Space Subcommittee, Sen. Kirsten Sinema (Ariz.), the subcommittee’s chair, said there were many ambiguities in the White House’s proposed legislation. , new undefined terms, and broad open appropriations. authority. She did not elaborate on her concerns.

At that hearing, officials from multiple agencies, including the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation within the Transportation Department and the Office of Space Commerce within the Commerce Department, supported the White House’s mission authorization proposal. They told senators there would be no situation where both departments would license an activity and there would be a robust interagency process to resolve any jurisdictional issues.

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