House SST Committee Leaders Urge FCC to Narrow “Space Modernization” Proposal
Says Commission Should Withdraw or Substantially Alter the NPRM
The bipartisan leadership of the U.S. House Science, Space, and Technology Committee has sent a letter the FCC raising concerns about the agency’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) titled “Space Modernization for the 21st Century,” and urging the Commission to withdraw or substantially narrow the proposal to remain within its statutory authority.
“The requirements proposed by the FCC would impact billions of dollars of commercial space activities.”
Excerpt from a House SST leadership letter to FCC Chair Carr.
In the letter to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, Committee Chairman Brian Babin and Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren express support for efforts to streamline radiofrequency licensing for private space systems, but warn that several provisions in the NPRM go beyond communications policy and into broader space activity regulation—areas Congress has not authorized the FCC to oversee.
The Chairman and Ranking Member requested that the FCC “rescind the ‘Space Modernization’ NPRM referenced above or issue a Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FNPRM) focused exclusively on radiofrequency communications licensing for private space systems.”
“Recent decisions by the Supreme Court underscore the limitations on inferred statutory authority,” the letter states. “The requirements proposed by the FCC would impact billions of dollars of commercial space activities, implicate international obligations under the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, and be at odds with national space policy.”
They further note that the NPRM would require operators to “take all possible steps” to assess and mitigate collision risks and certify compliance with an FCC-established human casualty threshold—requirements they argue are unrelated to spectrum management. As the letter states, such proposals “would effectively condition access to spectrum licenses on compliance with operational requirements unrelated to radiofrequency communications.”
The Members also raise concerns that the proposed rule would exceed the FCC’s statutory authority, writing that the Communications Act of 1934 “contains no clear congressional authorization empowering the FCC to regulate space safety, space traffic management, or broader non-communications space operations.”
Concluding the letter, they respectfully request that the Commission “suspend the NPRM or substantially narrow the NPRM through an FNPRM so that its contents are confined strictly to radiocommunications licensing within the clear bounds of the Communications Act.”
The intent of the letter is to ensure that federal space regulation remains grounded in clear statutory authority, avoids duplicative or conflicting requirements, and preserves U.S. leadership and competitiveness in the commercial space sector.