politics national
from hiring India’s space agency to launch their equipment.
Private American launch companies, such as SpaceX, are quite
happy with this arrangement, which was intended to protect
them. But the ban is not only wrong in principle — it’s actually
impeding an exciting new American industry.
Last month, under pressure from satellite operators and
manufacturers, US trade officials began reviewing the decadeold policy. They should heed the pressure and overturn it.
Emerging India may seem like an unlikely competitor for
Silicon Valley rocket companies. Yet since 1969, the Indian
Space Research Organization (ISRO) has consistently punched
above its modest weight class, racking up a series of cheap and
practical achievements. One of its most important feats was the
development of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), which
was designed to carry satellites for monitoring agriculture and
water resources, among other things. What made the PSLV
unique was that it was designed to launch small satellites. And
that’s a good niche to occupy at the moment.
Over the past few years, the small-satellite market has
boomed as advances in miniaturization made space accessible to
governments and companies that might never have considered
it. The uses for such gear seem almost limitless, from shoeboxsized climate-monitoring devices to Samsung’s plan to use
thousands of micro-satellites to provide global internet access.
Some $2.5 billion has been invested in the industry over the past
decade.
But getting all those satellites into space is now proving to be
a problem, and US policy is partly to blame.
In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan’s administration sought to
protect nascent private launch companies from subsidized
foreign competition by setting up Commercial Space Launch
Agreements. The idea was simple: In exchange for the chance
to put US satellites into space, foreign governments agreed to
launch quotas and set fees. Both China and Russia signed such
agreements. In 2005, India was asked to do the same. While the
US waited for an answer (it was and continues to be “no”), it
imposed an export moratorium on satellites for Indian launch.
The timing was no accident. In 2005, SpaceX was building its
Falcon 1 rocket, which was designed to carry small satellites.
The ban even came to be known as the “SpaceX Agreement.”
Problematically, though, the Falcon 1 had only one commercial
launch before it was retired in 2009. At the time, the small
satellite boom hadn’t yet taken off, and SpaceX didn’t believe
there was a commercial justification for the rocket. (It’s now
scrambling to correct that mistake.)
Since then, no other US company has offered a rocket for small
satellite launches (though some are reportedly in the works),
even as demand has surged. That leaves American satellite
companies with few options. The US Trade Representative has
handed out occasional waivers from the moratorium. And a
European government consortium now offers its own small
satellite launch vehicle, for a hefty fee. But a far cheaper and
more reliable option — going to India — remains off the table.
That’s only hurting American companies, while sending
the wrong message to India. Civilian space cooperation would
benefit the economies of both countries, and restraining it to
protect American companies — which have had 10 years to
come up with a competitive product — can’t be justified from a
business or diplomatic standpoint. If the US government wants
to help its space companies shoot for the stars, it should stop
shooting itself in the foot.
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November 16-30, 2016 The Dayafter
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