The new frontier in space is a repurposed swimsuit warehouse. It's a destroyed shipping container in a nondescript parking lot. This is a rental vibration table located in a rental industrial building.
We offer a narrow tandem parking spot in the cat corner, right off the alley and close to the dumpster. Do not enter the makeshift clean room. But feel free to take a look. Like the rest of the company, it's brand new.
New frontiers in space are diverse, but they're usually within 15 minutes of your nearest In-n-Out. Okay, 20 people max, there's a traffic jam. This is Los Angeles, after all.
On this new space frontier, Americans are doing what they do best: world-leading innovation. They are growing seed crystals for therapeutic drugs in microgravity. They are developing a high-energy laser, low-power process that will enable platinum group metal refining in deep space. They build off-the-shelf, modular, plug-and-play launch platforms and orbital vehicles for scientific payloads and instruments. They are developing more efficient, smaller, and rapidly deployable earth stations that can manage data backhaul to enhance in-orbit operations. And they're on board with commercial launch providers to make it happen. Some are so light that you can move the rocket body with one hand.
There are no two ways about it. Elon Musk made this possible. Without commercial launches, this new generation of space startups would not exist. And without SpaceX, there would be no commercial launches, at least not at this level of maturity.
But Musk hasn't succeeded in a vacuum (well, he's succeeded literally, not figuratively). He had help. That included his investors, co-founders, advisors, and a team of dedicated world-class engineers.
Ah, Lori Gerber, one of the deputy directors of the DC agency.
Garber, a Democrat, was appointed by former President Barack Obama to be NASA's deputy administrator. So she made a plan. The idea was (though a bit oversimplified) to radically accelerate the pace of private sector startups by completely removing Washington.
Gerber cut through red tape, moved projects forward quickly, built relationships with private space companies, raised funding, and most importantly, prevented launch deregulation and government domain takeover. . Broadly speaking, Gerber worked hard to, in a sense, land NASA on the ground and allow commercial launches.
I'm a Republican regulator appointed by President Trump, and I have no qualms about stealing good ideas wherever I find them. Our approach to the next chapter of space innovation must be Gerberesque.
The current regulatory environment in which space startups seek to operate is currently so rich in regulatory requirements and permits that some of the engineering required to accomplish the actual work of satellites and launches is difficult to achieve. It's at least as tough. And it acts like a tug for the companies themselves.
Do you want to start a space startup? You should check with the FCC about spectrum. Is it a full-fledged experimental license or just an STA? Oh, the FAA will definitely need launch coordination. You know you need to communicate with NTIA because your activities impact federal spectrum, right? What does NASA say? And NOAA? What kind of communication are you trying to achieve? Oh, I don't know if that would work with ITU frequency allocations. Oh, you want it to land on American soil as well? You should ask the Department of Defense.
Improvements are readily available at my own agency, the FCC, among others, making satellite licenses conditional on meeting clearly defined parameters rather than vague moving targets, and making the Commission's decision-makers more Remedies are readily available, such as the introduction of a “shot clock” that must be followed by players. Merely reviewing government agencies is not enough. A future Trump administration can and should harmonize and simplify the process of launching and operating America's most exciting startups aboard SpaceX rockets. Remove unnecessary cooks from the kitchen. Create a single regulatory point of contact. Create a unified playbook. Act with urgency and a biased “yes.” If no action is taken within a reasonable period of time, the request will be deemed granted. Ask for forgiveness, not permission (or not at all).
That means a future Trump administration could enact sufficient regulations.”Delta V” Elevating the U.S. space economy to new orbital heights. And to significantly reduce the current frictional burden of regulation on space innovation, we hope that future administrations will consider issuing an executive order with guidance and direction to accomplish the same thing. I am.
This sector is or could be the next Bell Labs or Los Alamos. It has the potential to enable a cascade of new discoveries with applications on the ground. America's security posture can be improved through dual-use applications. This will help us get ahead of further strengthening of China's communications and data networks. And ultimately, if we want to get humans to Mars, Mars will be the place to develop the critical infrastructure to achieve that goal.
The next administration could accelerate America's lead in space. Next, let's remove the regulator from the rocket to reduce the weight of the payload.
Nathan Symington is a member of the Federal Communications Commission. Previously, he served as a senior advisor at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.
