Space Launch Video Seen Rocketing Into Gray Regulatory Realm
NOAA needs to do a better job letting launch companies know that any camera in space, except for handhelds and astronomy-related cameras, require approval, Tahara Dawkins, director-Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs Office, told us. A commercial space industry consultant said commercial launcher use of streaming video -- like SpaceX's February launch of a Falcon Heavy rocket with a payload including a Tesla car, livestreamed by SpaceX with David Bowie's "Starman" as soundtrack -- conflicts with NOAA regulations and such conflicts are likely to become more common with growth of commercial space launchers.
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SpaceX is one of 23 companies with NOAA private remote space sensing system licenses, said the agency website, but the company is licensed for only two of its MicroSat test non-geostationary orbit satellites. NOAA didn't comment. Dawkins wouldn't specifically comment about SpaceX.
The commercial launch industry doesn't necessarily agree it needs NOAA approval for cameras on rockets. SpaceX emailed Monday that it "takes seriously the responsibility of deploying payloads to orbit and compliance with all relevant laws and regulations. In this case, SpaceX understood the NOAA regulation to exempt the type of cameras used during the mission.” Echoed Blue Origin Vice President-Sales, Marketing and Customer Experience Clay Mowry in an email, "You need a NOAA/Commerce license to operate a remote sensing satellite, not a rocket in flight." He said streaming video and telemetry back from an operational launch system can be done in several ways, such as transmission to ground stations, to NASA's tracking and data relay satellite system or to commercial satellites.
But commercial remote sensing regulations cover devices and instruments on spaceborne platforms, which would include launchers, and the capability to look at the earth, so the "Starman" launch cameras clearly fall under NOAA purview, the consultant said. However, first-stage re-entries are suborbital, so it's less clear those would require NOAA OK, the consultant said. There's also some gray about whether rules apply if the mission is atypical from remote sensing, meaning both NOAA and launch companies have a case that their read of the rules is correct, the consultant said.
The intent of the commercial remote sensing regulatory regime is control of imagery that has national security implications, said Secure World Foundation Director-Program Planning Brian Weeden. He said it’s likely the Commerce Department will opt to waive formal approvals for launch operators since streaming video like "Starman" wouldn’t show troop movements, for example. Weeden said government control of commercial remote radar sensing done for national security reasons slowed that industry from getting off the ground in the U.S. and multiple foreign companies are offering such imagery commercially. He said some American radar imagery companies are coming into existence, though none is in orbit.
Dawkins agreed there likely aren't national security issues with streaming video taken by commercial launch rockets, and rules have some disconnect from commercial launch industry. She said the typical NOAA approval process for a commercial remote sensing application is 120 days, but the agency has done "NOAA-light" approvals for temporary missions. She said a similar process -- with a less formal review and an approval taking just a few business days -- might benefit commercial launchers.
NOAA reviews are done case by case, so it's impossible to say what criteria would make a commercial space launch that incorporated video permissible, Dawkins said. The NOAA application asks for a wide array of technical information, including sensor type; spatial and spectral resolution; on-board storage capacity; image motion parameters -- linear motion, drift; aggregation modes; and anticipated system lifetime.