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Talking
Points
Who
are we?
The
Suborbital Institute (SOI) is a trade association promoting the
suborbital reusable launch vehicle (RLV) industry.Institute members include RLV developers TGV
Rockets, XCOR Aerospace, Armadillo Aerospace, X-Rocket LLC, and
Vela Technology.
Why
are we here?
SOI
is urging legislative action to promote the industry.Specifically, we're pushing:
- Senate
passage of H.R. 3752
- Reform
of the International Trafficking in Arms Regulations (ITARs)
- Restoration
of the DOC's moribund Office of Space Commerce
H.R. 3752
H.R.
3752 is the first commercial space legislation to pass the House
since the Commercial Space Act of 1998, which specifically authorized
reentry vehicles and reusable launch vehicles.
H.R. 3752 specifically authorizes space tourism, clarifies
jurisdiction within FAA for suborbital vehicles, establishes an
experimental permit regime for RLV flight testing, requires that
training and medical standards be set for crew members and space
tourists, authorizes FAA/AST's budget for three years, continues
the present indemnification regime for three years, and calls for
a study of how to phase out indemnification.
We are pleased the Congress has demonstrated a clear commitment
to suborbital flight with this bill, and continues
the 20-year effort the Federal government has made in supporting
the commercial space industry.
ITAR
The
ITAR Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) is out of control.
Intended to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction, it has instead driven foreign customers of U.S.
launch providers to the competition, because the U.S.
satellite manufacturers can't talk to their customers about anything
technical. This has cost
the U.S.
satellite industry billions of dollars since 1998, when administration
of MTCR was moved from DOD to State.
It is also having a negative impact on the suborbital industry:
we are unable to hire some very talented rocket engineers because
they are not U.S.
citizens.
Office
of Space Commerce
Within
the Department of Commerce, the Office of Space Commerce (OSC) has
been doing excellent work on a shoestring for years.They have produced
a number of excellent reports about the U.S. launch industry, including
a 2002 report on the suborbital industry which was very helpful
in reducing the "giggle factor" associated with space tourism and
other suborbital markets.OSC has no budget, no permanent director,
a staff of one (1) out of five (5) authorized, and they are perennially
ignored within Commerce. We think they've been doing a great job,
and we want them to keep doing it, but they need help.We'd like
to see their budget restored, a permanent director hired, and the
Office staffed to its authorized level.They've done great with two
and three people; they could really shine with five.
H.R.
3752
H.R. 3752,
the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004, does many things
to enhance the U.S. RLV industry.H.R. 3752:
- Specifically
delegates space launch licensing authority to AST;
- Specifically
authorizes commercial human space flight, including space tourism;
- Defines
"suborbital rocket" and "suborbital trajectory," clarifying FAA/AST
jurisdiction over suborbital launch vehicles;
- Defines
"crew" and "space flight participant" (a customer, but distinct
from a passenger of a common carrier);
- Requires
that training and medical standards be set for crew members;
- Requires
launch providers to disclose their safety records, in writing,
to prospective space flight participants;
- Requires
launch providers to obtain informed consent, in writing, from
space flight participants before launch;
- Creates
a "fly at your own risk" liability regime for space flight participants
(requires that they mutually waive their liability with the launch
provider, like any other payload operator);
- Establishes
an experimental permit regime for RLV flight testing:
- Permits
must be issued in 90 days, vs. 180 days for licenses;
- Permits
may be issued only for R&D, showing compliance with license
requirements, or crew training;
- Permits
would authorize unlimited experimental flights, like current
experimental airplane practice;
- Permits
would specify what changes could be made to the vehicle;
- Permits
would prohibit carrying people or cargo for hire, like current
experimental airplane practice; and
- Encourages
the Secretary to use his authority under 49 USC 70105(c)(2)(C),
waiving requirements of other laws if the waivers are in the public
interest, in issuing experimental permits.
The
biggest obstacle to licensing a launch or series of launches is
the environmental review. Every
licensed launch is a "major Federal action," and according to the
National Environmental Policy Act, needs an environmental assessment.This takes months at best, and can take decades.
But every rocket launched since 1972 has flown under a Finding
Of No Significant Impact (FONSI), including
Titan IVs carrying hundreds of thousands of pounds of toxic propellants.
H.R. 3752 encourages the Secretary to use his waiver authority
under 49 USC 70105(c)(2)(C). AST could use
this to issue FONSIs, on a case by case basis, for launches of suborbital
RLVs carrying thousands of pounds of non-toxic propellants.This would allow AST to issue permits in 90
days with no adverse consequences to the environment.
Issuing permits
in a timely manner would, in turn, allow expeditious flight testing
of new vehicle designs, "turning the crank" for a startup community
poised to become a multi-billion dollar industry.
ITAR
The
ITAR Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) is intended to prevent
the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.While it is difficult to assess how well an export control
regime suppresses exports - you can't track crimes people don't
commit - it is not at all difficult to assess the secondary effects
ITAR is having on the suborbital industry.
As
developers of rocket technology, SOI member companies cannot hire
engineers who are not U.S.citizens.This deprives the industry of some of the most
talented rocket engineers in the world.XCOR, in particular, was unable to hire a foreign rocket
engineer with 20 years experience developing liquid fuel rocket
engines.
Foreign
aerospace engineering students come to the United States to get the best technical
education available anywhere. When
they have learned all that the U.S. can teach them, they try to
get jobs here in the U.S.Because they are not U.S. citizens, U.S. industry cannot hire them.
So they go home to Teheran and Beijing and Bangalore and get aerospace jobs there.
Most of the aerospace jobs there are jobs building missiles.
Thus, a regime designed to prevent proliferation of missile
technology is having the opposite effect, promoting missile proliferation,
to the detriment of U.S. national security.
SOI
member companies also cannot advertise our wares.Any information that might be useful to a potential
customer trying to make a purchasing decision is technical in nature.
ITAR forbids us from disclosing technical information in
any way that might lead to its leaving the United States, or its being read by a foreign
national. Being unable to
advertise our products, even for domestic sale,
is hurting the industry to a degree that, because we have
never been permitted to advertise, we cannot determine.
However, in a media-driven world, the consequences of being
unable to advertise the merits of our products must be considerable.
ITAR
export restrictions have other unintended effects, similar to the
de facto prohibition on advertising.
We cannot discuss the technical details of our products with
foreign nationals, including foreign nationals who know more about
our field than we do.We cannot discuss the technical details of our
products in any forum where foreign nationals might be present.We can't sell engines to prospective customers
in Canada.When we sell products to
U.S. customers, we can only do
so if they are able to ensure that our products will not be open
to inspection by foreign nationals.
XCOR, specifically,
had a German intern for a year. The file server had to be segregated
so that the intern could not access technical information. The
intern had to sent out of the office when the engineering staff
needed to discuss rocket engine design or construction.Drawings
that the engineering staff needed to look at on a regular basis
had to be posted on the back of the Chief Engineer's door, so that
the intern did not see them by accident.The intern was, and all
foreign nationals are, barred from the Chief Engineer's office.
Photographs of rocket engine parts had to be kept in a secure location
so that the intern could not look at them. When the engineering
staff inspected parts after testing, the inspection had to be in
the Chief Engineer's office, with the door closed.All this distrustful
action had a very negative impact on XCOR's corporate culture.
To add insult to injury, after spending a good fraction of million
dollars training this intern, XCOR was unable to hire him, because
he is not a U.S. citizen.
Probably
the most nonsensical unintended effect of the current ITAR regulations
is that we are unable even to talk about Sutton.
Rocket Propulsion Elements,
by George P. Sutton, is the
introductory text in the field.
It is available for purchase all over the world.
Yet Sutton contains material that is sufficiently technical
that the State Department considers it subject to export control.That means that we cannot talk about introductory
rocket engineering with foreign nationals - which, not to put too
fine a point on it, makes us look foolish, hidebound, and afraid
to speak the truth. Afraid
to speak the truth, in America
Office
of Space Commerce
Within
Commerce's Technology Administration (TA), the Office of Space Commerce
(OSC) has been doing excellent work on a shoestring for years.
They have produced a number of excellent reports about the
U.S. launch industry, including a 2002 report on the suborbital
industry which was very helpful in reducing the "giggle factor"
associated with space tourism and other suborbital markets.OSC has no permanent director, a staff of one
(1), out of five (5) authorized, and they are perennially ignored
within TA and within Commerce. We
think they've been doing a great job, and we want them to keep doing
it, but they need help.Last year, their budget was misdirected, and
their acting director retired (he had stayed on per Congressional
intent from 2002 to 2003). They
are hurting.We'd like to see their budget restored, a permanent
director hired, and the Office staffed to its authorized level.They've done great with two and three people;
they could really shine with five.
In
2003, DOC was considered closing OSC, and Congress passed legislation
directing DOC to keep OSC open.
However, there were mixed signals, and while the authorization
bill directed DOC to keep OSC under TA, the appropriations bill
sent all of OSC's budget to NOAA.
This effectively killed OSC.
We would like to see OSC revived to continue the excellent
work they were doing before their recent troubles began.
Our
essential desire is to restore OSC's budget to OSC.We also want the Senate to encourage the Secretary
to find a way to make the Office effective again.The best way to do that is not to micromanage
the Department of Commerce from Capitol Hill, but rather to give
the Secretary the freedom he needs to find the best place to put
OSC.The best place for OSC may be in the International
Trade Administration (ITA); it may be directly under the Secretariat,
where it was created in 1988; it may be under the Technology Administration,
where it is now. We don't
know where OSC would be most effective; we do know that they were
effective in the past, and we would like them to be effective again.
OSC
is currently under TA by statute, the Cyber Security Research and
Development Act (Public Law 107-305), which amended the Technology
Administration Act of 1998 to read (amendment in italics), "There
is established within the
Technology Administration of the Department of Commerce an Office
of Space Commercialization."
So
we are asking for three things from Congress: first, redirect OSC's
budget back to OSC; second, Require the
Secretary to appoint a Director for OSC; third, encourage the Secretary
to take the necessary steps to make OSC effective again.
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