NASA, Defense Department support giving space traffic management role to Commerce

[Elderberry]

Space News by Jeff Foust — June 24, 2018

As the House prepares to take up a bill giving the Commerce Department new authorities for space traffic management, the leaders of NASA and U.S. Strategic Command offered their support for such a move.

At a rare joint hearing of the strategic forces subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee and space subcommittee of the House Science Committee June 22, officials said they backed the plan in Space Policy Directive 3 announced four days earlier to give Commerce Department authority to provide safety-related space situational awareness data to civil and commercial satellite operators.

“I believe transition is a good idea and I support the actions taken by the president on Monday to designate the Department of Commerce as the lead,” said U.S. Air Force Gen. John Hyten, head of Strategic Command. “It’s the right move and I commit to work with the administration, the Department of Commerce and the Congress to meet the president’s space traffic management goals.”

“This is important to NASA,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. “I look forward to working with this committee and implementing Space Policy Directive 2 and Space Policy Directive 3 from the president that gives these new activities to the Department of Commerce.”

In earlier studies of moving space traffic management responsibilities from the Department of Defense, the likely destination was the Department of Transportation, specifically the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation. While both Bridenstine, as a member of Congress, and Hyten had previously supported moving that work to the FAA, they said they were satisfied with the direction in SPD-3 giving Commerce that responsibility.

“A couple of years ago, when I drafted that bill, my thought was we’ll put it at FAA, and we’ll take everything and put it at FAA,” Bridenstine said, referring to the American Space Renaissance Act that he drafted as a member of Congress in 2016. “It appears now that the right course of action, given the consensus that has been come to, is that it be at Commerce, and I fully support that. The key is, it needs to be done.”

More: http://spacenews.com/nasa-defense-department-support-giving-space-traffic-management-role-to-commerce/

[Elderberry]

I can't see where space traffic management fits in the Commerce Dept.

[thackney]

I can't see where space traffic management fits in the Commerce Dept.

Mining permits?  Quite a stretch I know.

[Elderberry]

I would have thought that the Dept of Transportation would be a better fit.

Some of DOT's   Operating Administrations:

Federal Aviation Administration
Federal Highway Administration
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
Federal Railroad Administration
Federal Transit Administration
Maritime Administration