GPS World

Tag: President Biden

  • Biden administration pushing for streamlined space rules

    Biden administration pushing for streamlined space rules

    Photo:
    Image: Blue Origin

    The White House is drafting an executive order that would simplify the approval for private launches by clarifying space rules and regulations for private American space companies. This order, which President Biden could sign into law early next year, aims to simplify licensing procedures in accordance with existing federal space laws to routinize space activities, including launching rockets and satellites deployed by private companies. Private space companies such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, are preparing to invest in several projects over the next decade, such as Blue Origin’s Orbital Reef project, which would build a commercial space station in low-Earth orbit (LEO).

    Additionally, an online tool is being designed for the Department of Commerce to guide private companies through the licensing requirements from the relevant federal agencies. The order may also include granting certain federal agencies oversight of space activities that are not currently monitored, such as asteroid mining and space junk removal.

  • President Biden, Congress urged to void Ligado go-ahead order

    President Biden, Congress urged to void Ligado go-ahead order

    Image: A-Digit/DigitalVision Vectors/Getty Images
    Image: A-Digit/DigitalVision Vectors/Getty Images

    In letters sent today to the White House and U.S. Congress, more than 90 organizations representing a broad range of industries urged President Biden and members of Congress to set aside the Ligado Order approved during the previous administration.

    The industries urged the president and lawmakers to work with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to “stay and ultimately set aside the Ligado Order,” saying that it “poses significant threats to the reliability of GPS for millions of Americans.”

    “The risk to American lives and to the American economy are simply too great,” the group wrote in the letters.

    “A year ago today, the FCC made the dangerous and misguided decision to allow Ligado Networks to operate a terrestrial network on frequencies adjacent to GPS despite threats to GPS reliability and the concerns of Congress and virtually all federal agencies that rely on GPS to protect our national and economic security,” said Dale Leibach, spokesman for the Keep GPS Working Coalition.

    “We are hopeful that under the new administration, something can be done to stop Ligado from proceeding with its plan and we are extremely thankful to the many members of Congress and government officials who have rightly pointed to the very harmful impact this decision will have on countless consumers, farmers, ranchers, pilots, boat owners, surveyors, engineers and construction companies if it is not reversed,” Leibach said.