America’s leadership in the space industry, once an unquestioned reality, is now at a critical crossroads. The biggest threat isn’t a foreign adversary’s technological leap, but rather slow-moving regulatory processes. While American companies are innovating at a breakneck pace, the regulatory process designed for a bygone era is creating a strategic catastrophe.
Companies must navigate a maze of approvals from multiple agencies, including the FAA, FCC, NOAA, and DoD. These agencies often operate in silos, each with different timelines and requirements, creating a cycle of delays. This fragmented approach means companies are often forced to duplicate work by submitting the same data to different agencies, which then review it through slightly different bureaucratic lenses.
While there are timelines for evaluation and operations for launch, there is a pre-application period in which companies can endure months of consultations. Additionally, when one agency delays their review process, it holds other agencies’ timelines for review. Ultimately, agencies have no single point of coordination, which can be detrimental when agencies disagree or fail to coordinate. For example, SpaceX’s Starship saw its environmental review stretch for months beyond schedule, not because of the rocket’s complexity, but because of a failure of multiple agencies to coordinate a unified review process.
The Trump administration recognizes these regulatory setbacks and this month, President Trump signed an Executive Order seeking to streamline the environmental review portion of the launch licensing process. Nevertheless, there are still many burdensome barriers for businesses looking to compete in the space race. For instance, while this Executive Order is a step in the right direction, the environmental review section is only a portion of the whole process which can be seen in full in the image from the FAA’s launch process. This extended process forces engineers and innovators to spend valuable time and resources on compliance instead of on the breakthrough technologies that define American space leadership.
The consequences of this regulatory paralysis not only impacts innovation but also the space economy. The global space economy is a massive and growing market, reaching $613 billion in 2024. Each regulatory delay means loss of market share to international competitors, many of whom are not burdened by such bureaucratic friction.
A company’s heavy focus on navigating a complex regulatory landscape can divert resources away from developing cutting-edge technologies. Outdated launch regulations and infrastructure force America’s brightest entrepreneurs to become compliance experts, slowing the pace of innovation.
How to Launch Change
To regain and secure America’s space dominance, changes to launch regulations are needed. To help alleviate this regulatory web some of the following could be done:
- Establish robust coordination: A council or other body could have the power to synchronize multi-agency reviews, eliminate duplicative requirements, and ensure collaboration.
- Modernize Federal Launch Ranges: The current infrastructure, much of which dates back to the Cold War, is being pushed to its limits. Emergency funding and streamlined scheduling are needed to handle the growing number of launches.
- Clarify Part 450: The government can provide clear guidance and extend transition deadlines to ensure companies can comply without endless delays.Creating performance-based criteria instead of prescriptive requirements that stifle innovation.
The path forward is clear and regulatory reform is needed to unleash the U.S.’ space potential.
