Spacelift Washington: The First Bush Space Policy

Today’s action puts the first Bush administration ‘stamp’ on U.S. Space
Policy, and while it is only the first policy action in an anticipated
series, it has a clearly identifiable cast to its contents. The new
space remote sensing policy released today by the National Security
Council has a decidedly free market, conservative slant as it seeks to
craft a new cooperative framework between U.S. federal users of space
photography and the fledgling industry that is struggling to offer such
services.

Commercial sources of high resolution images will now be Uncle Sam’s
primary way of obtaining such images. The so-called “National Technical
Means”, in English government-owned satellites, will focus only on that
capability that cannot be commercially bought. It is a landmark step
in the evolution of the remote sensing industry, and if matched with
budget resources-something that must be defined in the next several
weeks in Washington- could trigger actual growth in that space business
sector.

The two current providers of one meter resolution images from space;
Space Imaging and Digital Globe, have struggled to define a purely
commercial market outside of government clients. Orbimage is set to
launch OrbView 3 into orbit this year, making it the third entrant. And
the technology research continues into ever greater optical
capabilities from satellite platforms.

The Bush policy also in effect drops restrictions on the design and
construction of such advanced spacecraft. But embedded in the policy
plan are licensing safeguards and other restrictions on where such
future, higher resolution pictures could be sold, and to whom. The new
policy might require government-to-government agreements if the buyers
were foreign entities, or limit such sales to the U.S. government
itself.

Administration sources told this column yesterday that the lead agency
to implement the policy would be NIMA, the National Imagery and Mapping
Agency. Even it will get a new shine under the conservative
administration: it’s new name will be the National Geospatial
Intelligence Agency.
More space policy changes are ahead, in space transportation and
possibly navigation and communications. One by one the Bushies are
getting around to space. The appointment of Sean O’Keefe was one step.
This new space policy is another.

But stay tuned.

Related Links