Bigger Congressional Role Seen Needed to Help Push Commercial Space
From encouraging spectrum sharing to ensuring regulatory streamlining, Congress has plenty of levers to promote the commercial space industry, space interests said during a Satellite Industry Association panel Wednesday. To have a bigger voice in spectrum policy issues, the space community needs to be unified, said House Space Subcommittee Chairman Brian Babin, R-Texas. "Without spectrum, there is no space business."
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Babin said the U.S. needs to promote competition and protect spectrum allocations for space services. The U.S. position at the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference needs to include spectrum for the space industry as well as global harmonization, he said.
A spectrum sharing regime is inevitable, and Congress should be promoting it through efforts such as creating shared use bands for R&D, said Aerospace Industries Association Director-Legislative Affairs Tami Plofchan. Congress has passed legislation in recent years on 5G and wireless issues that gives the FCC direction, but the agency could use similar guidance for satellite spectrum issues, she said. Even though budgeting has meant reduced U.S. participation in some international organizations in recent years, Congress must ensure the U.S. remains an active participant in ITU if it wants global spectrum harmonization, she said.
Asked about criticisms by FCC Commissioner Mike O'Rielly about the ITU (see 1808090009), SIA President Tom Stroup said that likely reflects O'Rielly's frustration at the process that stymied opening the 28 GHz band for terrestrial 5G services (see 1601150063). Not taking part in ITU "would create mayhem," said Stroup.
Spectrum issues are a priority for the executive branch, with the National Space Council bringing it up in two space policy directives (see 1805240031 and 1806180028), said Commercial Spaceflight Federation President Eric Stallmer. He said like the satellite industry, the space launch industry is facing spectrum allocation challenges. That's likely to worsen given the mushrooming of launch vehicles in operation or development, he added.
Agencies like the FCC and FAA are showing an increased focus on regulatory reform and process streamlining, Stallmer said. He said such deregulatory efforts are critical to the commercial space industry attracting outside investment. But the U.S. is seeing huge regulatory competition from new national entrants into commercial space like Luxembourg or New Zealand, where space launch regulatory rules are "sixteen pages rather than 16,000," he said. Speedy regulatory approval "is essential," said Alex Rodriguez, vice president-government and external affairs for smallsat launch startup Vector Launch.
As either commercial or governmental deep space exploration becomes a bigger possibility, more attention should be paid to spectrum needs for deep-space communications, said Mary Lynne Dittmar, president of the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration. NASA's Deep Space Network of spacecraft communications facilities around the planet is "straining at the seams," she said.