Smallsat Rules Streamlining Expected This Year
The FCC expects to act this year on a small satellite authorization streamlining draft NPRM adopted by commissioners in April (see 1804170038), Karl Kensinger, International Bureau Satellite Division deputy chief, said at an American Bar Association panel Friday. An increased area of concern is the potential for interference to incumbent operations from experimental and university satellites owners interested in using low-band frequencies, he said.
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Kensinger said a big focus of the agency in that proceeding is trying to find a happy medium between regulatory fees for experimental licenses and those for big geostationary satellites. He said one of the most important issues in the draft rules is the intermediate fees and the exploration of whether annual fees should be less. The fees have needed addressing for some time and often are burdensome for startups, space lawyer Franceska Schroeder of Fish and Richardson said.
Kensinger said the ITU and the FCC see perhaps excessive use of the ITU's Article 4.4 rules as an "escape hatch" with satellite operators pointing to them as justification for using bands as long as they don't claim protection or cause interference. He said that's a "high-maintenance approach," requiring operators know who's operating in those bands in what can be a fluid situation. He said the other major space issue before the agency is its orbital debris draft NPRM, aimed at trying to reflect industry advancements instead of dealing with them case by case as the agency has.
HawkEye 360 Vice President-Legal and Regulatory Michael Mineiro said the FCC revisions come atop NOAA expected to issue an NPRM soon updating its remote sensing regime and the FAA also working on an update of its launch licensing schema. He said the 115th Congress saw significant legislative activity related to space, and while none made it into law, that momentum could continue with the current 116th, potentially being informed by the agencies' regulatory actions.
The FAA's current launch regulations are largely designed for expendable rockets, and industry is pushing more for performance-based rules and removal of unnecessary ones like agency approval needed to do anything to a vehicle at a launch site, even if it's not being launched, Blue Origin General Counsel Paul Weber said. He said when the draft FAA rules come out, likely at the end of March (see 1902120031), a 120-day comment period is expected for the 600-some pages. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reset the regulatory framework,” Weber said.
While international law usually starts with common agreements among nations, the Outer Space Treaty came before such agreements, Mineiro said. He said that's resulting in different interpretations by different countries on what the treaty means. He said countries also are trying to figure out how to regulate nontraditional space activities like in-orbit satellite servicing in light of their international obligations.