Despite the sharp divisions in the country and on Capitol Hill, bipartisan bills still do get introduced, and one that appeared in the Senate this week looks to rewrite the rules when it comes to getting commercial satellites—and possibly even tourists into space. The Space Frontier Act of 2018, sponsored by Democratic Senator Ed Markey, Democratic Senator Bill Nelson and Republican Ted Cruz (yes, that Ted Cruz) has nothing to do with Donald Trump’s “Space Force.” Instead, it would create a new position with oversight over almost all aspects of commercial space flight, and make it easier for commercial launches to get approval.
Many provisions of the Space Frontier Act line up with the American Space Commerce Free Enterprise Act, which passed the House on a voice vote in April. That bill, introduced by Texas Republican Lamar Smith, also enjoyed multiple Democratic co-sponsors, including Ami Bera, Darren Soto, Derek Kilmer, and Ed Perlmutter. As might be expected, many of those sponsoring both bills come from states and districts where aerospace technology plays a significant role in the local economy.
But the House and Senate bill are not identical. They differ in particular on how to regulate items that are not classified as ordinary commercial satellites — which could be a wide range of future activities from sending a mining bot to an asteroid, to sending a big-something-rocket to Mars. Both bills seek to simply this process, as well, but neither provides a all-in-in space office, and they differ about which department gets the say-so over sending out-of-the-ordinary things to space. In general, the Senate bill looks more like provisions that came from an FAA committee studying the best approach to simplifying space-related regulations, while the House bill looks more like the latest Space Policy Directive from the White House.
So, assuming the Senate bill passes, the joint committee will have some work to do harmonizing the bills. House Republicans are still lobbying to simply pass the House bill in the Senate. But it seems much more likely that the Space Frontier Act will “fly” in the Senate. The two bills share the goal of cutting down on the number of offices and steps that are required in authorizing the launch of a payload into space. So long as Congress can get past all the steps and people necessary to bring them into line.
Also tucked into the Senate bill: language that would affect remote sensing, and support for the International Space Station that would run through 2030.
These changes shouldn’t make a world of difference for the established companies like Boeing and others involved in ULA who have learned to work the government levers, or even SpaceX, which has the process of sending Falcon 9s to orbit down to a routine. The biggest winners will be the next generation of launch companies, especially the numerous companies now working to build small launchers that carry up tiny satellites.
Until recently, most small satellites have made it to orbit by hitching a ride on a rocket that was carrying a bigger customer, but had some leftover room in the payload fairing. This has meant that many small payloads — including experimental and research satellites — have been at the mercy of larger commercial launches, and subject to schedules and delays that were out of their hands.
There’s a whole new generation of small launch vehicles coming along, many of them capable of getting only a few hundred pounds to orbit, which are designed to make it economical for smaller satellites to go to space on their own. And with more compact electronics making even commercial satellites ever smaller, many in the industry expect a growing demand.
But getting a new launch vehicle ready means making numerous launches, and some of these companies have numerous sites for testing and launching that don’t make use of existing government facilities. Both the new bills would make it much easier for such companies to get permits that covered multiple flights, even across multiple locations.
Both bills also provide a sort of fast-track for technologies designed to improve safety and reliability. which should be a good thing — though the Space Frontier Act leaves a lot of leeway in defining just what this means, which seems like an invitation to stamp a big “for safety” on anything that launch companies want to add in a hurry.
The Senate bill also has some changes to remote sensing that would get past some lingering Cold War provisions that have had unintended consequences — like forcing SpaceX to turn off cameras during its launches because of rules that concerned displaying images from space.