Trump wants to clean the administrative formalities of the space industry: here is winning

During a press conference at the end of 2024, President Donald Trump promised to “cut a massive number of job killers” during his second term and undertook to eliminate 10 old rules for each new.

Now, it brings this conduct of deregulation in the commercial space, ordering the federal agencies to rationalize the launch, accelerated space development licenses and to eliminate the advisory council of the Federal Aviation Administration industry.

“The ineffective authorization processes discourage investment and innovation, limiting the ability of American companies to lead in the world space markets,” he said in An executive decree Signed on August 13.

The ordinance orders the Ministry of Transport (DOT) to reduce “obsolete, redundant or too restrictive” rules which govern the launch and back -to -school licenses. He also asked the Federal Aviation Administration, which is hosted under the dowry, to eliminate or accelerate environmental examinations, to facilitate the path of the construction of new spaces and to name a “senior executive” responsible for promoting “innovation and deregulation”.

The Commerce Department has also received the order to present a new process for authorization for “new spatial activities”, such as manufacturing in space or satellite supply, which do not adapt perfectly to existing license diets.

The decree came the same day transport secretary and the interim administrator of NASA Sean Duffy rejected each member From the commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC), a long -standing advisory advice from the industry inside the dowry which shapes the rules and priorities of space flights.

For companies that have spent years engaging in environmental examinations and license delays, the order was a welcome sign that future offers would suffer shorter deadlines and more regulatory clarity. The Espace Commercial Federation, a commercial group of industry whose members include SpaceX, Blue Origin, Rocket Lab and a dozen others, applauded the executive decree to provide “regulatory relief to release the American commercial space industry”.

Indeed, commercial players are ready to gain a lot under this new regime. Launch companies could benefit from faster permitted and rationalized environmental journals. Spaceport operators supported by the state, as Space FloridaCan also be helped by provisions that accelerate the development of new sites.

The creation of a mission authorization framework for “Romanes” space activities is also substantial: startups like Varda Space Industries Or Orbit Fab, which develops technologies to manufacture pharmaceutical products in space and supplies in orbit, respectively, can obtain an advantage by a regulatory approach led by trade.

Bonding of the environmental rule

Not everyone celebrates the order. The Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), an environmental group which challenged the approval by the FAA of the Spacex Sparship program in Texas, described the order of “reckless”.

“Diving the knee to powerful societies by allowing federal agencies to ignore the environmental laws of the rocky substratum is incredibly dangerous and puts us in danger. It is clearly not in the public interest,” said the main lawyer Jared Margolis.

For groups such as CBD, environmental examinations are not “too complex”, because the control control – they are often completely insufficient. In 2023, Environmental groups, whose CBD, claim The fact that the environmental assessment of the FAA of South Texas South Spacex plans has been inadequate and in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act.

SpaceX led separately An increasingly public campaign Against “superfluous” regulations and environmental analyzes that have hindered a faster test campaign.

There are still unknowns. The legal challenges of the Order could slow down the progress and new members of the Comstac, which have not yet been appointed, will shed light on the future of the creation of space rules.