FAA continues to work with the committee to revise launch licensing regulations

WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration is moving forward with a long-awaited committee to evaluate ways to improve launch permit regulations as an executive calls for much bigger changes.

The FAA announced on Nov. 14 the creation of an Aerospace Regulatory Committee, also known as SpARC, that would explore possible changes to the FAA’s Part 450 rule for licensing launches and resubmissions. The SpARC is expected to hold its first meeting in early December.

“The FAA is seeking to update the licensing rule to promote greater clarity, flexibility, efficiency and innovation,” Kelvin Coleman, FAA associate administrator for commercial space transportation, said in a statement. “Issuing permits in a timely manner without endangering public safety is a top priority.”

The Part 450 rules went into effect in March 2021 following an accelerated rulemaking process following the first Trump administration’s Space Policy Directive 2. The rules were intended to streamline launch and return licensing, but many companies have reported difficulties applying for licenses under the new rules. .

Part 450 was an important topic at one September 10 hearing by the House Science Committee’s Space Subcommittee. “The way it is being implemented today has caused serious permitting delays and confusion and endangers our long-held leadership position,” Dave Cavossa, president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, said at that hearing.

At a Sept. 16 meeting of the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC), Coleman said the FAA plans to ask companies that have completed the Part 450 licensing process to participate in the SpARC. The FAA did not reveal the composition of the committee in its Nov. 14 announcement, but said it is “reaching out to invite stakeholders to participate.”

There is an urgency to update the Part 450 regulations as all existing licenses under older regulations must be transitioned to Part 450 by March 2026. The FAA said the SpARC will issue a final report with recommendations in late summer 2025, that the FAA will use to inform any future rulemaking to revise the regulations.

“We can’t wait to get this up and running,” Coleman said of the SpARC at the COMSTAC meeting.

He said at that meeting and on other occasions that the problems the companies faced could be a result of the speed at which the regulations were developed: about two years, compared to five years for the standard regulatory process. The new rule also shifts from prescriptive approaches, where the FAA has prescribed specific ways to comply with regulations, to one where companies can develop their own approaches but then must demonstrate their effectiveness to the FAA.

“We knew from the beginning that 450 was not a perfect rule,” he said at COMSTAC. “We knew that at some point we had to come back to the table and re-examine the 450: not completely, but working out some of the kinks and some of the issues and challenges.”

The timing of the FAA’s announcement led some to wonder whether it was related to plans by the new Trump administration to create a “Department of Government Efficiency” commission with the aim of scrutinizing government spending and regulations cut back. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk will co-chair the committee.

However, the FAA announced its intention to implement Part 450 SpARC in February. At the COMSTAC meeting in September, Coleman said he expected the SpARC to begin work sometime in the fall.

From thousands of pages to five

One of the biggest critics of the Part 450 regulations is SpaceX. The company has had difficulty obtaining licenses for its Starship vehicle through Part 450 regulations Business leaders have previously warned that “the entire regulatory system is at risk of collapse” because of the problems they and others have experienced with Part 450.

Speaking on the 31^st Annual Baron Investment Conference on November 15, Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, revealed that the company has failed to obtain a Part 450 reentry license for its Dragon spacecraft despite its extensive flight history.

“I couldn’t license Dragon to re-enter Part 450, so you can imagine the struggle we have with Starship,” she said.

She argued that the problem with the regulatory process is that it dates from an era when launches were much less common. “I launch Falcon every two or two and a half days, and the regs just aren’t built to keep up with that.”

Shotwell called for a drastic change in the regulatory process. “Everyone in all sectors is starting to realize that regulations need to be reinvented. I probably spend more than half my time on regulatory issues,” she said.

She recommended that regulations should focus on an outcome rather than specific procedures. In the case of a launch like Starship, she said, that means ensuring a safe launch that doesn’t hurt people. “These are very simple things, but the rules for the launch take up thousands of pages.”

“You have to fundamentally break down the current regulations and figure out what’s important, and only build regulations that are readable. No one is going to read thousands of pages,” she said. “Find out how to do it in five pages, then everyone will read it, everyone will understand it, and then we can all move on quickly together.”

However, she acknowledged that such major reforms would be a lengthy process. In the meantime, she said, “we will work on waivers and guidelines to try to operationalize the regulatory regime.”

Related