Obama is About to Give Private Space Companies a Big Break

4 minute read

A bill currently awaiting President Obama’s signature would exempt private spaceflight companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic from most U.S. government oversight for the next eight years.

The legislation would extend a so-called “learning period” for the industry until at least 2023, keeping agencies like the Federal Aviation Administration from regulating commercial space companies as closely as the rest of the aerospace industry. The bill also covers ownership and extraction of resources in space (think: asteroid mining) and extends U.S. commitment to the International Space Station into the next decade. President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law this week.

The U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act stems from an earlier 2004 bill that established a “learning period” for the industry that exempted it from government oversight and regulation while companies developed and tested new technologies. In 2004, the commercial spaceflight industry wasn’t doing a whole lot of flying, and Congress wanted to ensure that regulatory requirements didn’t keep them from doing so. That regulatory amnesty is set to expire in December, but the latest bill would extend the learning period until at least Oct. 1, 2023.

As such, people participating in commercial spaceflight—be they tourists, test pilots, or part of a crewed commercial mission—do so at their own risk. Human commercial spaceflight will be governed by informed consent, meaning that participants must sign a waiver confirming that they are aware of the dangers inherent in strapping themselves to the nose of a towering silo filed with rocket fuel.

The bill has already drawn praise from the private spaceflight sector, which will be free to continue pushing the envelope without regulators looking over its shoulders. Perhaps more importantly, keeping regulators at bay for a predetermined period will also keep the industry’s money spigot wide open.

“When you start regulating an industry, you can start driving away investment,” Marco Caceres, a senior analysts and director of space studies at aerospace consultancy Teal Group, says. “You don’t want to create too many regulations that keep investors from investing before you get fully developed as an industry.”

This isn’t just about rockets and spacecraft, Caceres says, but also about infrastructure on the ground as well. Though at times it feels like the commercial space industry is moving rapidly—just yesterday Blue Origin scored a major technological coup by launching a rocket to space and landing it safely back on its launchpad, for instance—it hasn’t moved as fast as many thought it would.

Consider all the private spaceports that popped up over the last decade under the assumption that by now they’d be doing a brisk business hosting Virgin Galactic or other space tourism concerns, he says. Relief from regulation makes it easier for infrastructure like that to remain viable while waiting for the rest of the industry to catch up.

Not everyone is thrilled with the bill, however. The FAA is responsible for ensuring the safety of human beings transiting U.S. airspace as well as for certifying the aircraft that carry them. The bill restricts the agency’s ability to do that job. Language in the bill provides the FAA with leeway to step in and issue safety regulations if there is an accident that causes injury, death, or extensive property damage. But even then, its jurisdiction is limited.

The bill also creates a framework for establishing resource rights on celestial bodies that lets companies claim ownership of minerals or other resources they manage to extract from asteroids, moons, or distant planets. It does not, however, let those companies claim ownership of those celestial bodies in the name of their governments, careful to hew to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty that forbids the claiming of planets or asteroids as government territory.

Another provision extends the U.S. commitment to the International Space Station into 2024. Continuing support for the ISS comes as no surprise, as the Obama administration has vocally supported doing so. But codifying that support into will make it more difficult for a future administration to withdraw U.S. support from the orbiting lab at some point in the future.

This article originally appeared on Fortune.com

PHOTOS: See SpaceX's Biggest Milestones

SpaceX embarked on its first deep space mission with the launch of this Falcon 9 SpaceX rocket on Feb. 11, 2015 at Cape Canaveral, Fla., after two previous failed attempts.
SpaceX embarked on its first deep space mission with the launch of this Falcon 9 rocket on Feb. 11, 2015 at Cape Canaveral, Fla., after two previous failed attempts. Onboard is the Deep Space Climate Observatory, which will head 1 million miles from Earth to watch for incoming geomagnetic storms that could trigger power outages on our planet.John Raoux—AP
On May 29, 2014, SpaceX's CEO Elon Musk (not pictured) unveiled the company's first manned spacecraft, Dragon V2, at a press conference in Hawthorne, Calif., on May 29, 2014.
On May 29, 2014, SpaceX's CEO Elon Musk (not pictured) unveiled the company's first manned spacecraft, Dragon V2, at a press conference in Hawthorne, Calif., on May 29, 2014.SpaceX
A rocket carrying the SpaceX Dragon ship lifts off from launch complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla. on April 18, 2014.
A rocket carrying the SpaceX Dragon ship lifts off from launch complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla. on April 18, 2014.John Raoux—AP
Falcon 9 awaits its upcoming launch in SpaceX's hangar with landing legs attached on March 12, 2014.
Falcon 9 awaits its upcoming launch in SpaceX's hangar with landing legs attached on March 12, 2014.SpaceX
SpaceX's Falcon 9 launches with Thailand’s Thaicom 6 satellite on Jan. 6, 2014 from Cape Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex-40 in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
SpaceX's Falcon 9 launches with Thailand’s Thaicom 6 satellite aboard, on Jan. 6, 2014 from Cape CanaveralSpaceX
SpaceX's Falcon 9 and SES 8 launch from SpaceX's launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Nov. 28, 2013.
SpaceX's Falcon 9 launches from Cape Canaveral, on Nov. 28, 2013.SpaceX
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rolls out of the hangar for SES 8 on Nov. 28, 2013.
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rolls out of the hangar on Nov. 28, 2013.SpaceX
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying a small science satellite for Canada is launched from a newly refurbished launch pad in Vandenberg Air Force Station in California, on Sept. 29, 2013.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying a small science satellite for Canada is launched from a newly refurbished launch pad in Vandenberg Air Force Station in California, on Sept. 29, 2013. Gene Blevins—Reuters
SpaceX's reusable rocket prototype, Grasshopper, completes a 325 meter hop on June 14, 2013 before smoothly landing back on the pad.
SpaceX's reusable rocket prototype, Grasshopper, completes a 1,066-ft. (325 meter) hop on June 14, 2013 before landing back on the pad.SpaceX
SpaceX's fairing on May 27, 2013.
A SpaceX component preparing for testing in the world's largest vacuum chamber at NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.SpaceX
SpaceX's Dragon on the recovery boat on April 13, 2013.
SpaceX's Dragon on the recovery boat on April 13, 2013.NASA
SpaceX's Dragon is grappled by the International Space Station on April 13, 2013.
SpaceX's Dragon is grappled by the International Space Station on April 13, 2013.NASA
SpaceX's F9 rocket leaves the hangar at Cape Canaveral, Fla., on March 8, 2013.
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket leaves the hangar at Cape Canaveral, Fla., on March 8, 2013.SpaceX
Nine Merlin engines for the inaugural Falcon 9 flight, ready for integration onto the thrust structure, on March 8, 2013.
Nine Merlin engines for the inaugural Falcon 9 flight, ready to be installed in the booster, on March 8, 2013.SpaceX
From left: NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and SpaceX CEO and Chief Designer Elon Musk view the historic Dragon capsule
From left: NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and SpaceX CEO and Chief Designer Elon Musk view the Dragon capsule that returned to Earth on May 31, 2012 following the first successful mission by a private company to carry supplies to the International Space Station, at the SpaceX facility in McGregor, Texas, on June 13, 2012.Bill Ingalls—NASA/Reuters
SpaceX's unmanned Dragon capsule floats in the Pacific Ocean off of Baja California on May 31, 2012.
SpaceX's unmanned Dragon capsule floats in the Pacific Ocean off of Baja California on May 31, 2012. SpaceX/Reuters
SpaceX's Dragon commercial cargo craft is berthed to the International Space Station on May 25, 2012.
SpaceX's Dragon commercial cargo craft is berthed to the International Space Station on May 25, 2012. NASA/Reuters
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon spacecraft blasts off from Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on May 22, 2012.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon spacecraft blasts off from Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral, on May 22, 2012.Red Huber—MCT/Getty Images
The SpaceX Falcon 9 test rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on May 22, 2012.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 test rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral on May 22, 2012.Pierre Ducharme—Reuters
SpaceX'S Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft lift off from Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Dec. 8, 2010.
SpaceX'S Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft lift off from Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral, on Dec. 8, 2010.NASA—Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images
From left: U.S. President Barack Obama and Head of SpaceX Elon Musk tour Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on April 15, 2010.
From left: President Barack Obama and Head of SpaceX Elon Musk tour Cape Canaveral, on April 15, 2010.Jim Young—Reuters
On April 22, 2008, Musk's company landed NASA's launch services contract for Falcon 1 and 9 rockets. Here, the SpaceX factory in Los Angeles is shown on Nov. 21, 2008.
On April 22, 2008, Musk's company landed NASA's launch services contract for Falcon 1 and 9 rockets. Here, the SpaceX factory in Los Angeles is shown on Nov. 21, 2008.Dan Tuffs—Getty Images

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