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Regulation

Commercial space activities conducted by U.S. companies are regulated by the federal government in four major areas: space launches, remote sensing, communications, and limitation of the transfer of technology for reasons of national security and industrial policy.

Communications are regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC was established in the 1930s to regulate radio (and later television) and the use of spectrum, assuring that the signals from one station would not interfere with those from another station. When commercial communications satellites arrived in the mid-1960s, the FCC had had three decades of regulatory experience.

The office within the FCC that issues licenses for satellites is the Satellite and Radiocommunications Division of the International Bureau. Licensing assures that any proposed new satellite will not interfere with other satellites or with any other operating radio applications, on Earth or in space. All commercial launches, reentries, or landings conducted by U.S. companies are regulated by the Commercial Space Launch Act (CSLA). Under the CSLA, each launch or reentry must have a license. FAA/AST, the Office of Commercial Space Transportation, is part of the Federal Aviation Administration and is the federal government agency that issues these licenses. Its web site (ast.faa.gov) contains all the relevant rules, laws, regulations, and documents needed to obtain a launch license. FAA/AST conducts a policy review, a payload review, a safety evaluation, an environmental review, and a financial responsibility determination based on the data in the license application before issuing or refusing a license. The purpose of a launch license is to assure that "the public health and safety, safety of property, and the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States" are properly considered.

Commercial remote sensing from space is regulated under the 1992 Remote Sensing Policy Act and its associated regulations and administration policies. The act directs the secretary of commerce to administer its provisions, and those duties have been delegated to the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), an agency of the Department of Commerce. NESDIS runs the nation's weather satellites, and the International and Interagency Affairs Office (IIAO) within NESDIS issues the licenses needed to operate private space-based remote sensing systems (www.licensing.noaa.gov/).

NESDIS/IIAO reviews these applications in consultation with the Department of Defense (national security), the Department of State (foreign policy), and the Department of the Interior (which has an interest in archiving remote sensing data). Once an application has been determined by NESDIS/IIAO to be complete (all the required documents and data have been submitted), by law NOAA has to issue an up-or-down license determination within 120 days. Documents, background data, instructions, and examples are available at NESDIS/IIAO's web site to aid license seekers.

Under the law, a licensee must operate its space-based remote sensing system(s) so that the national security interests of the United States are respected and the international obligations of the nation are observed. A licensee must maintain positive control of its system(s) and maintain clear records of the sensing those systems have done. A U.S. licensee also must agree to "limit imaging during periods when national security or international obligations and/or foreign policies may be compromised." This is called "shutter control": The federal government can, in time of international stress (war or conflict) tell licensees what they can and cannot take pictures of.

The major law in the area of trade control is the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) and its associated regulations, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). Virtually anything involving space falls under ITAR. Equipment for ground stations for satellite control; transmitters; rocket engines; computer software for controlling a rocket, a satellite, or a ground station; rockets; and satellites are all subject to control and licensure under ITAR.

Licenses and regulation under the AECA and ITAR are administered by the U.S. Department of State and its Office of Defense Trade Controls (DTC), which is part of the Bureau of Political Military Affairs. These organizations are aided in their work by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency of the Department of Defense. DTC's web site (www.pmdtc.org) contains documents, background data, and instructions to aid license seekers, including electronic means for the filing and tracking of license applications.

The United States is a party to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), to which twenty-eight other countries, including Russia, Greece, Hungry, and Spain, also belong. Equipment and technology are controlled under this regime to limit the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction through efforts to control the availability of delivery systems (rockets). The State Department and the Department of Defense attempt to assure that space companies that export services or products adhere to the goals of the MTCR.

During most of the 1990s, space-related trade control was the responsibility of the Department of Commerce, specifically the Bureau of Export Administration (www.bxa.doc.gov) and the International Trade Administration (www.ita.doc.gov). Both of these agencies now play a reduced role in regulating the export of space-related trade products and services, but their main role at present is primarily to support the activities of the Department of State.

The shift of the regulation and licensing of space-related trade from the Department of Commerce to the Department of State resulted from a law passed by Congress, which wanted to eliminate what it felt was a looseness in U.S. trade control that had led to the transfer of sensitive space technology. This statutory change had unintended consequences, making it extremely difficult for a company such as Orbital Sciences Corporation to communicate with a division of its own company based in a foreign country. Under this regime, satellite engineers cannot talk to their counterparts in the United Kingdom without a license. These restrictions became so stringent that Orbital sold its Canadian-based division because of the difficulties presented by these mandated trade restrictions. Congress has since passed new legislation to address this problem.