Below is a mashup of Republican and Democratic press releases describing last week’s House hearing on the FAA’s Commercial Space Transportation Office’s budget. Lawmakers expressed concerns about the large budget increase requested, the potential rate for commercial space, and whether the FAA could balance its dual role to regulate and oversee the industry. The piece has been edited to eliminate duplicate content and to improve flow and clarity.
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The Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics held a hearing to review the Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 budget request submitted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Office of Commercial Space Transportation (also referred to as AST) and to examine new initiatives in the request to expand the office’s roles and responsibilities.
Speaking on behalf of the Administration was Dr. George Nield, FAA Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation. Others testifying included: Dr. Gerald Dillingham, Director of Civil Aviation Issues for the Government Accountability Office; and Henry R. Hertzfeld, Research Professor of Space Policy and International Affairs at George Washington University.
“The Office of Commercial Space Transportation provides an essential public service, ensuring that commercial launches are undertaken with the highest level of safety,” said Subcommittee Chairman Steven Palazzo (R-MS). “Their record of achievement is significant, licensing over 200 launches without any loss of life, serious injury, or notable property damage to the general public.”
Large Budget Increase Requested
The AST budget request asserts that NASA-sponsored commercial cargo flights to the International Space Station that are scheduled to begin next year, plus the expected start-up of commercial human sub-orbital flights, places new regulatory demands on AST’s operations. Subsequently, AST’s FY2012 budget request seeks $26.625 million, a 74% increase over the FY2010 enacted level, and a fifty percent increase in the size of its workforce.
The Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004 included two related provisions that were the subject of much of today’s discussion: the first authorized AST to regulate commercial human space flight launch systems; the second prohibited AST from regulating commercial human space flight for eight years in order to give space tourism companies an opportunity to design, develop and operate new and experimental launch systems. December 2012 marks the end of the eight-year regulatory ban, and the debate centered around the need for extending the ban.
Palazzo noted today that “The freeze was expected to allow the nascent (space tourism) industry to gain experience through experimental flights upon which AST could rely as it began to draft a regulatory regime.”
However, roughly six-and-a-half years have elapsed since the bill’s enactment, and there is an effort underway in Congress to extend the regulatory prohibition another eight years. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said there were many uncertainties associated with how fast the demands on FAA’s resources will grow, and whether such a dramatic budgetary increase as proposed in their FY2012 request is warranted.
The GAO’s Dillingham noted that the number of commercial launches has actually declined over the last decade. However, R&D efforts have also been steadily increasing, as companies anticipate increased demand. And while he said that GAO agrees that FAA’s workload is likely to increase, GAO also believes that there are uncertainties about how fast the demands on FAA’s resources will grow.
Hertzfeld was optimistic about the potential of a commercial industry, but conceded that the industry can only grow if the Federal Government is the initial buyer of services. “The licensing of in orbit commercial activities will grow as governments contract with commercial firms for different services,” Hertzfeld said. “However, it is unlikely that these services will grow without a large initial market funded by the traditional government space agencies as the prime customers.”
Safety Concerns and a Dual Role
In his opening remarks, Acting Subcommittee Ranking Member Jerry Costello [D-IL] said “Congress passed several laws to allow commercial space transportation to develop and we must ensure the industry has proper federal safety oversight. As the number of launches is expected to increase with commercial space tourism and the potential use of commercial space launch vehicles by NASA, it is imperative that the FAA has the proper resources to ensure new technologies and programs evolve safely.” With regard to regulation, Representative Costello said that “Congress and the FAA will need to decide how best to proceed with respect to safety regulation of this emerging industry.”
Representative Donna Edwards [D-MD] said that she hoped this was just the first of a series of hearings the Subcommittee was holding on commercial space transportation because a number of issues needed to be understood. In that regard, Representative Edwards said that Congress needs to understand the implications of having the FAA as both the regulator of commercial space transportation safety and the promoter of the industry that it is regulating. Representative Edwards noted that FAA used to have the dual responsibility for the commercial airline industry until Congress withdrew FAA’s role for promoting the commercial airline industry over the potential for a perceived conflict of interest and so that FAA could focus on safety. She said that as NASA moves forward working more closely with the private sector, the issues of safety, regulatory authority, and liability in commercial space will certainly need to be rigorously addressed to ensure the safety of the public and individuals in space or near-space.
AST’s Nield said that in the coming months and years it may be necessary to revisit some of the statutes and regulations that govern the commercial space launch activities of the FAA and there may be a need for greater regulatory authority in the areas of transportation on orbit as well as launch and reentry. Dr. Nield also said that while the future of commercial cargo and crew transportation to low Earth orbit is a coming reality, the largest near-term expansion in activity will be in suborbital spaceflight.
Hertzfeld stated that the most difficult future issues will be to regulate commercial in-orbit activities, both for human space flight as well as for other purposes. Regarding the issue of FAA regulating commercial crewed flights for NASA, Dr. Hertzfeld identified a number of issues to consider before granting licensing authority to the FAA for transporting U.S. Government astronauts or payloads to the International Space Station (ISS) such as whether they would compromise safety.
Informed Consent Laws
Representative David Wu [D-OR] inquired about Dr. Nield’s statement that future participants would be flying under the “informed consent” provision enacted in the Commercial Space Launch Act (CSLA) amendments of December 2004. Dr. Nield said that space transportation was not unlike other forms of transportation in that a certain level of risk was inevitable. Following the hearing, Representative Wu said “As we move into a new era of human spaceflight, we must uphold a strong focus on the safety of passengers. I am deeply concerned about the FAA’s approach to commercial passenger safety and the potential for a commercial launch failure that could cripple our nation’s space program.”
After the hearing, Representative Edwards said: “We still need to better understand the implications of having FAA operate as both the regulator and promoter of commercial space transportation safety. As NASA moves forward, they will need to work closely with private industry to rigorously address the issues of safety, regulatory authority, and liability in commercial space transportation to ensure the well-being of the public in space, near-space, and on the ground.”
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