Memorandum on The National Space Policy – Imperial Valley News

Washington, DC -Memorandum onThe National Space Policy:

MEMORANDUM FOR THE VICE PRESIDENTTHE SECRETARY OF STATETHE SECRETARY OF DEFENSETHE ATTORNEY GENERALTHE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIORTHE SECRETARY OF COMMERCETHE SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATIONTHE SECRETARY OF ENERGYTHE SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITYTHE DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGETTHE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCETHE ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT FOR NATIONAL SECURITY AFFAIRSTHE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATIONTHE DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICYTHE CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF

SUBJECT: The National Space Policy

Section 1. References. This directive supersedes Presidential Policy Directive 4 (June 29, 2010) and references, promotes, and reemphasizes the following policy directives and memoranda:

a) Presidential Policy Directive 26 National Space Transportation Policy (November 21, 2013)

b) Executive Order 13803 Reviving the National Space Council (June 30, 2017)

c) Space Policy Directive 1 Reinvigorating Americas Human Space Exploration Program (December 11, 2017)

d) The National Space Strategy (March 23, 2018)

e) Space Policy Directive 2 Streamlining Regulations on Commercial Use of Space (May 24, 2018)

f) Space Policy Directive 3 National Space Traffic Management Policy (June 18, 2018)

g) Space Policy Directive 4 Establishment of the United States Space Force (February 19, 2019)

h) National Security Presidential Memorandum 20 Launch of Spacecraft Containing Space Nuclear Systems (August 20, 2019)

i) Executive Order 13906 Amending Executive Order 13803 Reviving the National Space Council (February 13, 2020)

j) Executive Order 13905 Strengthening National Resilience Through Responsible Use of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Services (February 12, 2020)

k) Executive Order 13914 Encouraging International Support for the Recovery and Use of Space Resources (April 6, 2020)

l) Space Policy Directive 5 Cybersecurity Principles for Space Systems (September 4, 2020)

Sec. 2. Principles. It is the policy of the United States to ensure that space operations are consistent with the following principles.

1. It is the shared interest of all nations to act responsibly in space to ensure the safety, stability, security, and long-term sustainability of space activities. Responsible space actors operate with openness, transparency, and predictability to maintain the benefits of space for all humanity.

2. A robust, innovative, and competitive commercial space sector is the source of continued progress and sustained United States leadership in space. The United States remains committed to encouraging and facilitating the continued growth of a domestic commercial space sector that is globally competitive, supports national interests, and advances United States leadership in the generation of new markets and innovation-driven entrepreneurship.

3. In this resurgent era of space exploration, the United States will expand its leadership alongside nations that share its democratic values, respect for human rights, and economic freedom. Those values will extend with us to all space destinations as the United States once again steps beyond Earth, starting with the Moon and continuing to Mars.

4. As established in international law, outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means. The United States will pursue the extraction and utilization of space resources in compliance with applicable law, recognizing those resources as critical for sustainable exploration, scientific discovery, and commercial operations.

5. All nations have the right to explore and to use space for peaceful purposes and for the benefit of all humanity, in accordance with applicable law. Consistent with that principle, the United States will continue to use space for national security activities, including for the exercise of the inherent right of self-defense. Unfettered access and freedom to operate in space is a vital national interest.

6. The United States considers the space systems of all nations to have the right to pass through and conduct operations in space without interference. Purposeful interference with space systems, including supporting infrastructure, will be considered an infringement of a nations rights. Consistent with the defense of those rights, the United States will seek to deter, counter, and defeat threats in the space domain that are hostile to the national interests of the United States and its allies. Any purposeful interference with or an attack upon the space systems of the United States or its allies that directly affects national rights will be met with a deliberate response at a time, place, manner, and domain of our choosing.

Sec. 3. Goals. The United States shall:

1. Promote and incentivize private industry to facilitate the creation of new global and domestic markets for United States space goods and services, and strengthen and preserve the position of the United States as the global partner of choice for international space commerce.

2. Encourage and uphold the rights of nations to use space responsibly and peacefully by developing and implementing diplomatic, economic, and security capabilities and strategies to identify and respond to behaviors that threaten those rights.

3. Lead, encourage, and expand international cooperation on mutually beneficial space activities that broaden and extend the benefits of space for all humanity; further the exploration and use of space for peaceful purposes; protect the interests of the United States, its allies, and partners; advance United States interests and values; and enhance access to space-derived information and services.

4. Create a safe, stable, secure, and sustainable environment for space activities, in collaboration with industry and international partners, through the development and promotion of responsible behaviors; improved practices for the collection and sharing of information on space objects; protection of critical space systems and supporting infrastructures, with special attention to cybersecurity and supply chains; and measures to mitigate orbital debris.

5. Increase the assurance of national critical functions enabled by commercial, civil, scientific, and national security spacecraft and supporting infrastructure against disruption, degradation, and destruction through the development and fielding of materiel and non-materiel capabilities and rehearsal of continuity of operations practices.

6. Extend human economic activity into deep space by establishing a permanent human presence on the Moon, and, in cooperation with private industry and international partners, develop infrastructure and services that will enable science-driven exploration, space resource utilization, and human missions to Mars.

7. Increase the quality of life for all humanity through the cultivation, maturation, and development of space-enabled scientific and economic capabilities, including space and Earth resource discovery, management, and utilization; space and Earth weather and environmental monitoring and prediction; disaster monitoring, prediction, response, and recovery; and planetary defense.

8. Preserve and expand United States leadership in the development of innovative space technologies, services, and operations. Work with likeminded international and private partners, to prevent the transfer of sensitive space capabilities to those who threaten the interests of the United States, its allies, and its supporting industrial base.

Sec. 4. Cross-sector Space Policy Guidelines. The heads of all executive departments and agencies (agencies), consistent with their respective missions and authorities, shall execute the guidance provided in this section consistent with applicable law.

Heads of agencies with representation on the National Space Council shall designate a senior official with responsibility for overseeing their respective agencys implementation of the National Space Policy. This official shall periodically report to the National Space Council on the progress of implementation of this policy within respective agencies.

1. Foundational Activities and Capabilities. Foundational activities and capabilities enable the United States to fulfill the principles and goals directed in this policy.

(a) Strengthen United States Leadership in Space-related Science and Technology. Heads of agencies shall:

i. Reinforce United States technological leadership by promoting technology development; improved industrial capacity; a robust supplier base; and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education opportunities necessary to support United States leadership in space innovation;

ii. Conduct basic and applied research that increases space capabilities and decreases costs, if such research is best supported by the Government; and

iii. Encourage commercial space innovation and entrepreneurship through targeted investment in promising technologies that improve the Nations leadership in space operations.

(b) Strengthen and Secure the United States Space Industrial Base. To further foster the security and resilience of the domestic space industrial base, heads of agencies, to the maximum extent practicable and consistent with applicable law, shall:

i. Promote the availability of space-related industrial capabilities in support of national critical functions;

ii. Identify suppliers and manufacturers key to the United States space-related science, technology, and industrial bases and incentivizing them to remain in, or return to, the United States;

iii. Support innovative entrepreneurial space companies through appropriate deregulatory actions;

iv. Strengthen the security, integrity, and reliability of the supply chains of United States space-related science, technology, and industrial bases by identifying and eliminating dependence on suppliers owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of foreign adversaries, and engaging with United States and international industrial partners to improve processes and effectively manage and secure supply chains; and

v. Incorporate cybersecurity principles across all phases of space systems design, development, acquisition, and deployment.

(c) Enhance Capabilities for Assured Access to Space. United States access to space depends in the first instance on assured launch capabilities. To the extent consistent with applicable law, United States Government payloads shall be launched on vehicles manufactured in the United States, unless approved for foreign launch in support of:

i. No-exchange-of-funds agreements involving international scientific programs, launches of scientific instruments on international spacecraft, or other cooperative government-to-government agreements;

ii. Launches of secondary-technology demonstrators or scientific payloads for which no United States launch service is available;

iii. Hosted payload arrangements on spacecraft not owned by the United States Government; or

iv. Other circumstances on a case-by-case exemption as coordinated by the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, consistent with established interagency standards and coordination guidelines.

v. To the maximum extent practicable and consistent with their responsibilities and applicable law, the heads of agencies shall:

1. Work collaboratively to acquire space launch services and hosted Government payload arrangements that are secure, reliable, cost-effective, and responsive to United States Government needs;

2. Enhance operational efficiency, increase capacity, and reduce launch costs by investing in the modernization of space launch infrastructure;

3. Permit the launch of United States Government spacecraft manufactured in the United States from territories of allied and likeminded nations when launched on vehicles manufactured in the United States; and

4. When sufficient United States commercial capabilities and services do not exist, support industry-led efforts to rapidly develop new and modernized launch systems and technologies necessary to assure and to sustain future reliable, resilient, and efficient access to space.

(d) Safeguard Space Components of Critical Infrastructure. The space domain is important to the function of critical infrastructure vital to the security, economy, resilience, public health, and safety of the United States. Multiple infrastructure sectors depend on reliable access to space-based systems to perform their functions.

i. The United States will develop strategies, capabilities, and options to respond to any purposeful interference with or attack on the space systems of the United States or its allies that directly affects national rights, especially those necessary for the operation of the Nations critical infrastructure. Such strategies, capabilities, and options will allow for a deliberate response at a time, place, manner, and domain of its choosing.

ii. The Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence, in consultation with other heads of agencies, as appropriate, shall develop and maintain focused threat and risk assessments on the effect of deleterious actions in the space domain to the Nations critical infrastructure.

(e) Maintain and Enhance Space-based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Systems. The United States must maintain its leadership in the service, provision, and responsible use of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). To that end, the United States shall:

i. Provide continuous worldwide access, for peaceful civil uses, to the Global Positioning System (GPS) and its Government-provided augmentations, free of direct user fees;

ii. Engage with international GNSS providers to ensure compatibility, encourage interoperability with likeminded nations, promote transparency in civil service provision, and enable market access for United States industry;

iii. Operate and maintain the GPS constellation to satisfy civil and national security needs, consistent with published performance standards and interface specifications;

iv. Improve the cybersecurity of GPS, its augmentations, and federally owned GPS-enabled devices, and foster commercial space sector adoption of cyber-secure GPS enabled systems consistent with cybersecurity principles for space systems;

v. Allow for the continued use of allied and other trusted international PNT services in conjunction with GPS in a manner that ensures the resilience of PNT services and is consistent with applicable law;

vi. Invest in domestic capabilities and support international activities to detect, analyze, mitigate, and increase resilience to harmful interference to GNSS;

vii. Identify and promote, as appropriate, multiple and diverse complementary PNT systems or approaches for critical infrastructure and mission-essential functions; and

viii. Promote the responsible use of United States space-based PNT services and capabilities in civil and commercial sectors at the Federal, State, and local levels, including the utilization of multiple and diverse complementary PNT systems or approaches for national critical functions.

(f) Develop and Retain Space Professionals. The primary goals of space professional development are to achieve mission success in space operations and acquisition; stimulate innovation to improve commercial, civil, and national security space capabilities; and advance science, exploration, and discovery. Toward these ends, the heads of agencies, in cooperation with industry and academia, as appropriate, shall:

i. Establish standards for accession and career progression;

ii. Seek to create educational and professional development opportunities for the current space workforce, including internships and fellowships, and to implement measures to recruit, develop, maintain, and retain skilled space professionals, including engineering and scientific personnel and experienced space system developers and operators, across Government and commercial sectors;

iii. Promote and expand public-private partnerships within space and technology industries to foster transdisciplinary educational achievement in STEM programs, supported by targeted investments in such initiatives;

iv. Promote the exchange of scientists, engineers, and technologists among Federal laboratories, universities, and the commercial space sector to facilitate the exchange of diverse ideas and to build capacity in space technical knowledge and skills;

v. Develop the means to recruit and to employ qualified and skilled space professionals from likeminded nations to increase United States leadership in space commerce, science, exploration, and security; and

vi. Support training and education in key enabling scientific and engineering disciplines, including: artificial intelligence and machine learning, autonomy, orbital mechanics, collision avoidance methods, robotics, computer science and engineering, digital design and engineering, electromagnetics, materials science, hypersonics, geoscience, quantum-related technologies and applications, and cybersecurity.

(g) Improve Space System Development and Procurement. The heads of agencies shall:

i. Improve timely acquisition and deployment of space systems through enhancements in estimating costs, assessing technological risk and maturity, and leveraging and understanding emerging industrial base capabilities and capacity;

ii. Reduce programmatic risk through improved management of program requirements, reduce the use of cost-plus contracts, where appropriate, and take advantage of cost-effective opportunities to test high-risk components, payloads, and technologies in digital, space, or other relevant environments;

iii. Create opportunities to strengthen and to develop pertinent expertise in the Government workforce through internships and fellowships with the commercial space sector;

iv. Pursue and endorse cooperative research and development agreements;

v. Incorporate rapid prototyping, experimentation, and other efforts to accelerate development cycles to improve performance and to reduce costs;

vi. Embrace innovation to cultivate and to sustain an entrepreneurial United States research and development environment;

vii. Engage with the industrial base to improve processes and effectively manage and secure supply chains; and

viii. Promote, where consistent with applicable rules and regulations concerning Government contracting, procurement of critical materials and sub-tier components, such as solar cells and microelectronics, from domestic and other trusted sources of supply.

(h) Strengthen Interagency and Commercial Partnerships. As facilitated by the Executive Secretary of the National Space Council, the heads of agencies shall, consistent with applicable law:

i. Strengthen existing partnerships and pursue new partnerships among interagency members, the United States commercial space and related sectors, and United States academic institutions through cooperation, collaboration, information sharing, innovative procurements, and alignment of common pursuits to achieve United States goals;

ii. Encourage the sharing of capabilities and the exchange of expertise among agencies and, to the maximum extent practicable, with the United States commercial sectors to strengthen the Nations ability to pursue its strategic goals;

iii. Develop implementation and response strategies and leverage United States capabilities to increase technology innovation and achieve desired outcomes involving space operations relating to science, public safety, national security, and economic growth.

2. International Cooperation.

(a) Strengthen United States Leadership in Space. The heads of agencies, in collaboration with the Secretary of State, shall:

i. Demonstrate United States leadership in space related fora and activities to strengthen deterrence and assure allies and partners of its commitment to preserving the safety, stability, security, and long-term sustainability of space activities;

ii. Identify areas of mutual interest and benefit, such as collective self-defense and the promotion of secure and resilient space-related infrastructure;

iii. Lead the enhancement of safety, stability, security, and long-term sustainability in space by promoting a framework for responsible behavior in outer space, including the pursuit and effective implementation of best practices, standards, and norms of behavior;

iv. Encourage other nations to adopt United States space regulatory approaches and commercial space sector practices;

v. Encourage interoperability among United States, allied, and partner space systems, services, and data;

vi. Facilitate new market opportunities for United States commercial space capabilities and services, including commercial applications that rely on United States Government-provided space systems;

vii. Promote the adoption of policies and practices internationally that facilitate full, open, and timely access to Government space-derived environmental data on a reciprocal basis;

viii. Promote appropriate burden-, cost-, and risk-sharing among international partners; and

ix. Augment United States capabilities by leveraging existing and planned space capabilities of allies and partners.

(b) Identify and Expand Areas for International Cooperation. The heads of agencies shall identify potential areas for international cooperation across the spectrum of commercial, civil, and national security space activities that increase the understanding of Earth and space sciences, expand the detection of hazardous near-Earth objects, ensure the freedom of operation in and through space, increase the quality and safety of life on Earth, extend human presence and economic activity beyond low Earth orbit, and reduce the cost of achieving the Nations goals.

i. The Secretary of State, in coordination with the heads of agencies, shall:

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Memorandum on The National Space Policy - Imperial Valley News