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RENTON, Wash. – The House's Science Committee approved a bill on June 27 that would give the Department of Commerce new responsibilities for managing space traffic despite the opposition of some Democrats to the bill.
The committee made a favorable report on a vote vote H.R. 6226, the US Law on Management of the Situation in Space and Framework for the Entity (SAFE). The law, announced by the committee on June 22, would allow the Commerce Department to provide space traffic management services, such as collision warnings, to civil and commercial satellite operators within the year following the promulgation of the law Project.
The bill authorizes NASA to develop a science and technology plan for space traffic management, outlining the research needed to improve work in the region. It also calls on the Department of Commerce to develop a pilot program for coordinating space traffic.
The bill largely follows the Space Policy Directive 3 signed by President Trump on June 18, which badigns the Department of Commerce authority for civil space traffic management work. The Department of Defense, which is currently doing this work, will continue to collect space situational awareness data for its own purposes. It would provide a version of its catalog to Commerce, which could then supplement with data from commercial or international sources.
"The American Space SAFE Management Act is the culmination of the years of work that this committee has undertaken," said Representative Lamar Smith (R-Texas), chairman of the committee and lead sponsor of the bill. He noted that the bill has "full support" from the administration and the National Council of Space, as well as from a number of companies and organizations of the # 39; industry.
However, the committee's representative, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), objected to the bill. "I do not support our committee by stamping the truffle efforts of the Trump administration to address the problem," she said.
It noted that previous studies had sought to entrust this responsibility to the Department of Transport, in particular the Federal Aviation Administration's Commercial Space Transportation Office, for the current administration to focus on the Department of Commerce. "This is despite the fact that Commerce does not have infrastructure or expertise to support this important work," she said. "In fact, no credible reason has been formulated to explain why the Commerce Department is the best place to house the function."
She proposed an amendment that would replace the bill with language requiring national academies to undertake a one – year study of the agency that would be best placed to manage space traffic management. This study, she said, would allow Congress to fully understand the issue before deciding which agency should have this responsibility.
"We rush once again to markup without having first done our homework and our work as legislators," she said.
Smith said that it was not necessary to do a new study on previous studies on the subject, although these previous reports do not specifically address whether Commerce was the best agency to manage traffic management civil space. "It's time for us to act," he said, citing a hearing on the subject on June 22 by the Space Subcommittee, held in conjunction with the Force Forces Strategic Forces Subcommittee. armies. "Time is critical."
The committee rejected Johnson 's amendment on a vote of 13 to 17. Most Democrats voted in favor of the amendment, but two, representatives Ami Bera (D-Calif.) And Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.), Opposed the amendment. These two members are also co-authors of the bill.
The committee approved by verbal vote the amendment of a manager who made several changes to the bill that Smith said came from discussions after the bill was released last week. These changes include the requirement for trade secretaries and defense to develop a transition plan for space traffic management to avoid any gaps in these services. It also gives the Commerce Department the power to leverage the resources and manpower of any necessary federal agency, compared to the original draft bill mentioned with support from NASA.
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