The Biden administration relaxed export restrictions for US commercial space companies to supply certain satellites and goods to allies and partners, according to Reuters.
The changes are designed to make it easier for the growing US commercial space industry to expand sales and to protect national security and foreign policy interests.
US space companies like Elon Musk’s SpaceX and large defence contractors with space divisions, such as Lockheed Martin, L3Harris Technologies and Boeing, could benefit from the new regulations. The updates would also enhance the US ability to “broaden and deepen international partnerships, to grow our economy and to collaborate on mutual space priorities,” Don Graves, deputy secretary of the Department of Commerce, stated.
As the diversity of commercial activity in space grows, these rules will reduce the burden for US industry to continue innovating and leading in the space sector.
The rules could help the US advance the trilateral AUKUS security pact between the UK, US and Australia, struck in 2021 in response to China’s growing power in the Indo-Pacific.
Certain less sensitive parts and components of satellites and spacecraft would no longer require licences to be shipped to more than 40 countries including Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea and most EU member states. Besides, the Commerce Department would waive licensing requirements for the least sensitive products, such as electrical connectors, for most of the world, but not for Russia and China, the source claimed.
After publishing the 2019 notice SpaceX urged the US to consider ways to “streamline export control regulations for the US commercial space industry to lower administrative burdens, decrease regulatory compliance costs and increase exports thereby bolstering the US space commercial sector and industrial base.”
The relaxations could expand SpaceX’s overseas presence as it develops Starship, a next-generation reusable rocket. The Starship agreement could also pave the way for a larger SpaceX presence in Australia.
