WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration will establish a committee to get industry input on ways to improve a new launch licensing process, two years before all launch providers must switch to the new regulations.
In a speech at the FAA Commercial Space Transportation Conference here Feb. 21, Kelvin Coleman, FAA associate administrator for commercial space transportation, said the agency would establish an aerospace rulemaking committee, or SpARC, to find ways to streamline launch and reentry licensing regulations that went into effect nearly three years ago.
The regulations, known as Part 450, were intended to streamline the licensing process and were developed relatively quickly, in response to a provision in Space Policy Directive 2 in 2018. Industry, though, has argued that the implementation of the regulations has led to licensing delays, with only a handful of companies receiving Part 450 licenses to date. It has become a key issue for the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC) in its recent meetings.
The issue also came up during a Senate hearing in October where industry officials called for improvements in Part 450. At that hearing, Bill Gerstenmaier, SpaceX vice president for build and flight reliability, warned that “the entire regulatory system is at risk of collapse” as other launch companies shift to Part 450 licenses over the next two years.
“We know some of you have challenges with Part 450,” Coleman said in his remarks, asking companies to share those issues with his office directly. “You don’t have to wait for a COMSTAC meeting or a congressional hearing.”
The SpARC, he said, would provide another means of refining the regulations. “[Part] 450 was developed pretty quickly, and we are all learning together as we go along. We’ve considered some opportunities, however, to smooth out a few wrinkles and enhance it to better meet its objectives.”
The Part 450 SpARC would…
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