national politics
Uncle Sam!
End Ban on
Indian Rockets
India may seem competitor for Silicon
Valley rocket firms. Yet since 1969,
ISRO has often punched above its
modest weight, racking up series of
cheap but practical achievements
T
By Chandan Kumar
20
he US ambassador to India on February 25 gave a speech
celebrating the growing US-India cooperation in space.
“In September 2015, for the first time India launched
a US satellite — well, actually four at once,” Ambassador
The Dayafter November 16-30, 2016
Richard Verma said in prepared remarks to a space policy forum
in New Delhi. “The satellites belonged to a US company, and
India launched them from its trusted workhorse – the Polar
Satellite Launch Vehicle, which has launched satellites for 20
different countries. Other US companies have sought launches
on India’s PSLV, including a Google satellite scheduled for launch
in April.”
The next day, the US Department of Transportation’s Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) endorsed an advisory committee’s
recommendation that commercial US satellites continue to be
barred from using the PSLV. In its February 26 decision, the FAA
said it agreed with its Commercial Space Transportation Advisory
Committee (COMSTAC) that Indian launch services, owned and
controlled by the Indian government, threaten to “distort the
conditions of competition” in the launch-services market.
The FAA assured COMSTAC that the agency’s opinion would
be part of the current review of whether India’s refusal to
sign a Commercial Space Launch Agreement (CSLA) on rocket
pricing still justifies the ban. The review, led by the US Trade
Representative, is the reason COMSTAC had raised the issue.
The ambassador’s speech and the FAA’s decision would appear
to come from two different governments, which industry officials
on both sides said pretty much sums up the state of US policy.
Like other big contractors, American space companies have long
expected some friendly support from their government. And
Uncle Sam has usually been more than happy to help. Sometimes,
though, government help causes more harm than good.
Since 2005, US satellite manufacturers have been prohibited