WASHINGTON — The Senate Commerce Committee permitted a invoice Aug. 1 that might streamline business launch and distant sensing rules but in addition contains language conflicting with a House invoice.
The committee favorably reported S. 3277, the Space Frontier Act of 2018, on a voice vote with none members talking out in opposition to it. The invoice was one in all seven the committee permitted, together with one nomination, throughout a markup session that lasted lower than 15 minutes.
The invoice, introduced July 25 by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) with Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), is primarily targeted on reforming business launch and distant sensing rules, according to efforts by the Trump administration by means of Space Policy Directive 2 signed in May.
“While the commercial space industry is continuing to grow, it is unable to meet its full potential due to outdated regulations and policies that can stifle innovation, restrict investment and drive the American launch sector and non-traditional space activities to foreign countries,” Cruz mentioned in an announcement on the markup after the committee voted in favor of the invoice.
Cruz provided, and the committee permitted, an updated version of the bill that makes minor modifications to what was launched. Among them are new sections that set a deadline of 90 days for the Department of Transportation to difficulty a brand new launch license to an organization that already holds one, versus the 180-day deadline presently used for all purposes. The up to date model additionally provides language on the part for distant sensing reform elevating any disagreement throughout an interagency assessment of a license software to the president.
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The revised model leaves in place a bit that offers the Department of Transportation, although the Federal Aviation Administration, the power to make use of the payload assessment portion of the launch licensing course of to authorize non-traditional house actions that aren’t overseen by different companies. This clashes with the House’s American Space Commerce Free Enterprise Act, which provides the authority to authorize and supervise such actions to the Commerce Department.
The invoice additionally retains a bit that authorizes an extension of the International Space Station from 2024 to 2030. That extension, Cruz mentioned, is meant “to ensure that the Unites States is getting the maximum return on American taxpayer investment in the ISS, and to avoid creating a leadership vacuum in low Earth orbit.”
The committee permitted two different amendments to the invoice. One, by Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), directs the Department of Transportation to perform a study on the joint use of military facilities for each authorities and business launches, together with the “feasibility of increasing the number of military installations” that would host business launches and reentries.
The second, by Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), calls on the U.S. authorities to develop “consistent standards across Federal agencies” to minimize the risks posed by orbital debris. Peters, in an announcement on the markup session, referred to as the modification a “start” in the direction of coping with orbital particles, “but still much more needs to be done.”
The invoice now goes on to the complete Senate. “I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues to ensure that we pass this bill in the Senate and send it to President Trump’s desk before the end of this Congress,” Cruz mentioned. That would require not simply passing the invoice but in addition both getting it by means of the House or reconciling it with the American Space Commerce Free Enterprise Act, all earlier than the tip of the yr.
At the markup, senators hailed the bipartisan nature of the invoice that eased is passage by means of the committee. “I’m happy to join with Sens. Cruz and Markey in carrying on our tradition of bipartisan space legislation,” Nelson mentioned.