WASHINGTON — It’s a story almost as old as humanity: Braving unknown dangers, a team of explorers settles a wild frontier, and then — almost as quickly — bureaucrats tie it up in red tape.
This time, the frontier is outer space. And the regulators are from the Federal Aviation Administration, which licenses commercial-rocket launches.
The FAA so far has been constrained by one major loophole: Once a spacecraft reaches orbit, it’s largely free of regulation — a libertarian’s final refuge. But that could change soon.
Last week, at a congressional hearing and an industry conference in Washington, FAA officials and space attorneys began seriously discussing rules of the road for outer space, for such things as mining rights and safety practices.
Although there have been some broad guidelines — the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, for example, prohibits nations from claiming the moon — specific space regulations have been few and far between.
However, the commercial space industry has burgeoned in recent years. In 2012, the California company SpaceX became the first commercial-rocket company to deliver cargo to the International Space Station. And space tourism companies, such as Virgin Galactic and XCOR Aerospace, are preparing to fly passengers to suborbital space, perhaps this year.
Those efforts have led Congress, the administration and industry to begin talking about how to ensure that people and property stay safe in space.
“As the prospects for a greater number of commercial-transportation vehicles in space increase, it is time to consider closing the current regulatory and safety gap between launch and re-entry,” said George Nield, the FAA associate administrator for commercial space transportation. He spoke at a hearing on regulating the space industry.
Of particular interest is one law — set to expire next year — that largely bars the FAA from restricting commercial efforts to launch humans into space.
The intent of that measure, passed in 2004, was to ensure that “the FAA would not overregulate the industry before it had the opportunity to grow,” according to congressional documents.