At a press conference in late 2024, President Donald Trump vowed to “cut off massive employment rules” for his second term, and to eliminate 10 old rules for each new rule.
Now he brings that deregulation drive into commercial space, orders federal agencies to streamline their launch licenses, speedy development of space transport, and clears up the Federal Aviation Administration’s industry advisory board.
“Inefficient permitting processes discourage investment and innovation and limit the ability of US companies to lead the global space market,” he said in an executive order signed on August 13th.
The order directs the Department of Transport (DOT) to reduce “outdated, redundant, or overly restrictive” rules governing launch and reentry licenses. It also directs the Federal Aviation Administration, housed under the DOT, to appoint “senior executives” who will eliminate or accelerate environmental reviews, facilitate the pathway to building new space ports, and promote “innovation and deregulation.”
The Department of Commerce is also ordered to create new processes to approve “new space activities,” such as space manufacturing and satellite refueling, which do not fit neatly with existing licensing regimes.
The executive order rejected all members of the Commercial Space Transport Advisory Committee (COMSTAC), the long-time industry advisory committee within DOT, which forms spaceflight rules and priorities, by the same day, by the Secretary of Transport and Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy.
For businesses that have spent years of environmental reviews and licensing delays, the order was a welcome sign that future bids would experience shorter timelines and clarity of regulations. The Commercial Space Federation, an industry trade group that includes SpaceX, Blue Origin, Rocket Lab and dozens of other members, praised the executive order for “regular relief to unleash the US commercial space industry.”
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In fact, commercial players are poised to acquire more under this new regime. Startup companies can benefit from allowing and streamlining environmental reviews faster. State-sponsored Spaceport operators, such as Florida Space, may also be supported by regulations that accelerate new site development.
Creating a mission approval framework for “new” space activities is equally consequential. Startups like the Varda Space Industry and Orbit Fab are each developing technology to manufacture medicines in space, and each could be advantageous with a regulatory approach led by Commerce.
Fixed points for environmental rules
Not everyone is celebrating an order. The Biological Diversity Center (CBD), an environmental group that challenged the FAA approval of SpaceX’s Starship program in Texas, is called “Reckless.”
“It is extremely dangerous for federal agencies to bend their knees to powerful businesses by allowing them to ignore the bedrock environment laws, and we are all harmful.
For groups like CBD, environmental reviews are not “overly complicated” as they charge an order fee. In many cases, it is completely insufficient. In 2023, environmental groups, including the CBD, alleged that the FAA’s SpaceX South Texas plan had an inadequate environmental assessment and violated the National Environmental Policy Act.
SpaceX has been running separate, increasingly public campaigns against “extra” regulations and environmental analysis that have hindered faster testing campaigns.
There are still some unknowns. Legal challenges to the order may slow progress, and new COMSTAC members, who have not yet been appointed, will inform the future of space rules production.
