Updated 7:45 a.m. Eastern Aug. 14 with additional comments.
SALT LAKE CITY — The White House has issued a widely anticipated executive order addressing several commercial space regulatory issues, from launch licensing reform to mission authorization.
The order, titled “Enabling Competition in the Commercial Space Industry” and signed by President Trump Aug. 13, has the stated intent of improving the competitiveness of the U.S. commercial space industry through several actions.
“It is the policy of the United States to enhance American greatness in space by enabling a competitive launch marketplace and substantially increasing commercial space launch cadence and novel space activities by 2030,” the order states.
A key aspect of the order is to address commercial launch and reentry regulations. This has been a pain point for many companies in the industry as they struggle to adapt to Federal Aviation Administration licensing regulations called Part 450.
The order calls on the secretary of transportation to “reevaluate, amend, or rescind, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law,” Part 450. It cites specific issues such as what regulations are not needed for vehicles with flight termination or automated flight safety systems as well as “hybrid vehicles” for which the FAA has issued airworthiness certificates.
The order also calls for reevaluating the use of environmental reviews for licensing “to eliminate or expedite the Department of Transportation’s environmental reviews for, and other obstacles to the granting of, launch and reentry licenses and permits.” That would include potential use of “categorical exclusions” to exempt some launch activities from the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
Another section of the order addresses spaceport infrastructure. It instructs the Departments of Commerce, Defense and Transportation, with NASA, to review whether states can place restrictions on spaceport development under the Coastal Zone Management Act. That section appears aimed at efforts like those by the California Coastal Commission to block expansion of launch activities at Vandenberg Space Force Base.
Related parts of that section address environmental reviews, calling on several agencies to “use all available authorities to expedite their respective environmental and administrative reviews” for spaceport projects, including potential NEPA categorical exclusions for spaceport development. It asks the agencies to consider whether spaceport development projects require an application for review by the Endangered Species Committee.
In addition to the environmental provisions, the section instructs NASA and the Departments of Defense and Transportation to align processes among the agencies for spaceport development.
The order also addresses a long-running topic, authorization and supervision of so-called “novel space activities” not licensed today by the FAA, Federal Communications Commission and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That covers commercial space activities ranging from in-space servicing of satellites to commercial lunar landers.
The order instructs the secretary of commerce, within 150 days, to “propose a process for individualized mission authorizations” for such activities. The proposal, which the order says should be developed in consultation with other agencies, must incorporate “a definitive timeline” to grant or deny mission authorization applications and offer “clear and consistent” requirements.
The order potentially resolves a debate about whether mission authorization should reside in the Department of Commerce, Department of Transportation or split between them. Such debates date back at least a decade.
A final element of the order involves offices and personnel. The order instructs the secretary of transportation to establish a position within 60 days with the responsibility of advising the secretary “on fostering innovation and deregulation in the commercial space transportation industry.” It requires the FAA to select a senior executive noncareer employee to serve as associate administrator for commercial space transportation, a position vacant since the recent retirement of Kelvin Coleman.
The order also moves the Office of Space Commerce, located within NOAA, to within the office of the secretary of commerce. That is a move some in the industry have long been pushing for as a way to elevate the profile of the office, whose responsibilities include licensing of commercial remote sensing systems and creation of the TraCSS space traffic coordination system.
The order had been widely expected for weeks, although industry officials had said they were not familiar with many of its details before its publication.
The Commercial Space Federation (CSF), a group that includes dozens of companies and organizations in the industry, endorsed the order. “CSF applauds President Trump and the leaders across the federal government for taking bold action to prioritize space,” it said in a statement to SpaceNews.
“This executive order will strengthen and grow the U.S. commercial space industry by cutting red tape while maintaining a commitment to public safety, benefitting the American people and the U.S government that are increasingly reliant on space for our national and economic security,” CSF added.
The biggest beneficiary of the planned reforms is SpaceX, given its high launch rate and projects at launch sites in California, Florida and Texas that required recent or ongoing environmental reviews.
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell praised the order. “The commercial space industry is a great example of American innovation, an inspiration to the public and critical to supporting NASA, national defense and our economy,” she wrote in a social media post. “Thank you again for this decisive action to streamline regulations and unleash our industry!”
However, the order is a setback to groups that have argued efforts like SpaceX’s development of its Starbase launch site have negative environmental consequences.
“This reckless order puts people and wildlife at risk from private companies launching giant rockets that often explode and wreak devastation on surrounding areas,” said Jared Margolis, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement. “Bending the knee to powerful corporations by allowing federal agencies to ignore bedrock environmental laws is incredibly dangerous and puts all of us in harm’s way. This is clearly not in the public interest.”