OSC Issues RFI on Remote Sensing Satellite Disposal Requirements
Written comments are due on or before Monday, April 8, 2024
The Office of Space Commerce’s Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs division (CRSRA) published a Request for Information (RFI) regarding the condition in every CRSRA license requiring the disposal of on orbit spacecraft in a manner satisfactory to the President. This input is necessary to inform CRSRA's approach to providing additional guidance or initiating a narrow rulemaking pertaining to its disposal condition.
To avoid duplicative regulation, CRSRA currently defers to FCC license requirements regarding orbital debris and spacecraft disposal. However, in certain cases, CRSRA licensees are not subject to FCC regulation, leaving a gap in the application of disposal requirements. CRSRA seeks to provide guidance on how such licensees may satisfy the disposal condition in their CRSRA license.
CRSRA is seeking comments and suggestions from the remote sensing industry to identify whether CRSRA should contemplate issuing:
A narrow rulemaking pertaining to the subsection (b)(4) license requirement that exists in all of its licenses;
A narrow rulemaking pertaining to the subsection (b)(4) requirement for only those satellites without FCC licenses; or
Narrow guidance not rising to the level of a rulemaking for licensees without FCC licenses, to clarify acceptable means of compliance with their existing license condition.
CRSRA is also seeking comments about how any narrow rulemakings or guidance should address existing licenses and what form the rulemaking or guidance should take.
The public may submit written comments on issues addressed in this Notice by either of the following methods:
Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public comments via email to space.commerce@noaa.gov.
Mail: Submit written comments to Office of Space Commerce, Herbert C. Hoover Building, Room 68015, 1401 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. 20230P