Office of Space Commerce releases mission authorization proposal

WASHINGTON — The Office of Space Commerce has rolled out its proposal for a “light touch” approach to mission authorization, the latest attempt in a long-running effort to regulate new commercial space applications.

The office released its draft mission authorization proposal late March 24. The White House had directed the Commerce Department in a commercial space policy executive order in August to develop that proposal within five months.

The proposal is intended to address a gap in oversight of so-called “novel space activities,” such as satellite servicing, orbital debris removal and lunar missions, that are not currently regulated by agencies like the Federal Aviation Administration or Federal Communications Commission. The Outer Space Treaty requires member states to perform authorization and continuing supervision of space activities by their nationals.

Such emerging applications “often face a ‘no’ by default due to unclear regulations,” said Taylor Jordan, director of the Office of Space Commerce, or OSC, in a March 25 speech at the Satellite 2026 conference. “We are working on a framework that allows the government to say ‘yes’ to innovative space activities that don’t fit into traditional offices.”

The 13-page proposal outlines a voluntary system whereby companies can seek a “Space Commerce Certification” from OSC. “Through an OSC-run interagency review process, OSC would articulate specific, light-touch requirements for novel space activities,” the document states.

Under the proposal, companies would submit applications to OSC, which would perform “basic due diligence” while coordinating an interagency review. Those other agencies would have no more than 30 days to raise any objections.

The office would have 120 days to issue a certification or deny the application. The process would operate under what the proposal calls a “presumption of approval,” where the office would grant the application within that 120 days unless there is a valid reason to deny it.

The proposal recommends building the requirements for the certification incrementally. “We literally want to sit across the table with the first companies and say, ‘What should we require you to do? What should the requirements be for a mission like yours?’” said Gabriel Swiney, director of OSC’s policy, advocacy and international division, during another conference panel March 25.

“It’s pretty light touch. It’s pretty rapid,” he said of that regulatory process. “It’s not going to be anything near what you see in some existing regulatory agencies, particularly the FCC.”

The certification would not replace the need to obtain launch, remote sensing or communications licenses, but Swiney said those agencies could accept the certification in place of some of their licensing requirements, such as compliance with orbital debris mitigation rules.

The space community has been debating mission authorization concepts for more than a decade. Near the end of the Obama administration, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy proposed that the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation handle mission authorization. The first Trump administration, though, moved toward giving it to OSC.

In 2023, the Biden administration’s National Space Council proposed splitting mission authorization responsibilities between the FAA and OSC but faced opposition from some in Congress and industry. A House bill around the same time would have given mission authorization to OSC but failed to pass.

“Industry has been asking — I would say almost begging — for a solution to this,” Swiney said of mission authorization, “for well over a decade.”

Initial industry reaction to the proposal has been positive. “For years, the space industry has discussed the uncertainty facing companies seeking government approval of new activities in space,” Dave Cavossa, president of the Commercial Space Federation, said in a statement. “By providing a predictable and repeatable pathway to launch, this proposal will help the administration meet and exceed its goal to attract at least $50 billion of new investment in American space markets.”

“A commonsense certification regime will be critical to the future of commercial space activities. I applaud the Trump administration for prioritizing what is a nuanced but incredibly important issue, and for assigning the primary responsibility to the entity that is most capable of successful implementation, the Department of Commerce Office of Space Commerce,” Mike Gold, president of Redwire Space, told SpaceNews.

He said the final version of the proposal should include hard deadlines and transparency in the review process, and ensure that treaty obligations are met “in a benign and pro-growth fashion.”

OSC is seeking feedback on the mission authorization proposal but did not give a deadline for that feedback or for turning the proposal into a final policy.

Amber McIntyre, senior director of civil space at the Aerospace Industries Association, said at the conference panel that her organization’s member companies had provided input to OSC as it drafted the proposal.

Those companies are “following this closely and really want to be a part of every iteration and every review of this positive policy moving forward,” she said. “They want to make sure that the barriers for entry are removed. They want to make sure that processes are as streamlined as possible.”

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