Newly passed Senate bill requires consultation between industry and government on space junk
Though the bill still needs to be passed by the House, a just passed Senate bill requires consultation between industry and government on space junk, short circuiting recent attempts at the FCC as well as in the House to impose arbitrary government regulations.
You can read the Senate bill here [pdf].
The final result will still be government regulation on the lifespan and final deposition of any object placed in orbit, from nanosats to large manned space stations, but unlike the earlier FCC proposal and House bill, NASA and other government agencies will have to obtain feedback from the commercial space industry before such regulations are imposed.
Sounds great, eh? In truth, this bill in the end still gives full power to the federal government to control the launching of future spacecraft of all sizes. It also leaves the details entirely up to the bureaucracy. If passed Congress would cede its regulatory power to unelected bureaucrats in the executive branch.
The requirement that industry consultation occur simply means that the initial regulations will likely make some sense. Beyond that however the power it bequeaths to the federal bureaucracy in NASA, FAA, FCC, and other agencies will in the long run be still abused.
The need for the establishment of an independent space-faring society, free from odious Earthbound regulation, continues to grow.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Though the bill still needs to be passed by the House, a just passed Senate bill requires consultation between industry and government on space junk, short circuiting recent attempts at the FCC as well as in the House to impose arbitrary government regulations.
You can read the Senate bill here [pdf].
The final result will still be government regulation on the lifespan and final deposition of any object placed in orbit, from nanosats to large manned space stations, but unlike the earlier FCC proposal and House bill, NASA and other government agencies will have to obtain feedback from the commercial space industry before such regulations are imposed.
Sounds great, eh? In truth, this bill in the end still gives full power to the federal government to control the launching of future spacecraft of all sizes. It also leaves the details entirely up to the bureaucracy. If passed Congress would cede its regulatory power to unelected bureaucrats in the executive branch.
The requirement that industry consultation occur simply means that the initial regulations will likely make some sense. Beyond that however the power it bequeaths to the federal bureaucracy in NASA, FAA, FCC, and other agencies will in the long run be still abused.
The need for the establishment of an independent space-faring society, free from odious Earthbound regulation, continues to grow.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
I know this will eventually be abused. All laws fall to that issue. What I do like is that maybe this will put the space junk situation at the Department of Commerce. There is where all space activity should be coordinated. Additionally, the forms for NOAA, FCC, and FAA should be web accessible. I should be able to register a satellite for launch and operation as easy as I can register and operate a car.
While we can expect little else from this Congress, and little better from future Congress Bills, the most interesting future changes will be in 2 points:
1.) When the OST gets revamped because of its restrictions of State ability to reassign responsibility for damage from their launched objects through contracts to third parties, for things like clearing space junk.
2.) The unspecified side activities of space manufacturing that make things no treaty, or regulation, yet requires monitoring for, and is simply seen as too burdensome to bother with at the time.
These 2 areas are where freedom of action will show the greatest gains, and thus give the opportunity for best profits as they grow. I do not know what they will be, just that they turn up in any set of complex human activities in adapting to a new environment. These freedoms of action will eventually be defended by those who profit from them. That defense will be crucial every place it is taken up, whether in Low Earth Orbit or in the rock piles around the Ceres sites drilling for icy volatiles, or something else we cannot forsee.
Success in *that* defense is when and where freedom in Space will begin, … in the interstices between decisively written rules, … and what harried bureaucrats have no time for, … for years at a time.
The BATF of space. Nice.
It sounds like an underhanded way of officially recognizing a “public private partnership” in space. With agreements similar to carbon offsets where the more money you give Congress, the more pollution you can emit without regulatory controls being placed on you. Sometimes you are completely ignored while rival companies are harassed to the point of extinction.
Launch companies that play nice, with the appropriate donations, will get preferential treatment regardless of the space junk in low earth orbit they make… While others will be prevented from launching on a rumor or in accurate claims or wild eyed testimonials of environmental impact…
While other countries outside of regulation continue to fill low earth orbit with obstacles without a care in the world. (I’m sure China will get better, just as soon as space X perfects it’s rockets, so china can steal the innovations and technology for itself… If it hasn’t already)
If you do not have E.S.G. beneath your company logo, then you are a enemy end target for the New World order or fourth Reich or world economic forum… Whatever “The Nazis” call them selves now.
Speaking of E.S.G.… Has anyone even heard of the announcement of the final solution? (Final rule)
Apparently, the government has change the rules on a fiduciaries responsibilities.
Retirements and 401(k)s are placed in the hands of those considered fiduciaries looking out for the best interest of the customer in growing and managing retirement accounts.
The “customer” has been officially reassigned to the “best interest of the planet” and the pretend “scientist” who know better than the unwashed masses… that’s right, retirement accounts are being drained into unproven E.S.G. projects that will have zero return on the money. You will own nothing, and be happy.
The government and the leading banks roll out digital money prototype this spring. You may want to have hard currency at hand because soon it will be difficult to find or unavailable.
Top of page heading;
U.S. Department of Labor
Employee Benefits Security Administration
November 22, 2022
Today, the U.S. Department of Labor released a final rule under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) to empower plan fiduciaries to safeguard the savings of America’s workers by clarifying that fiduciaries may consider climate change and other environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors when they make investment decisions and when they exercise shareholder rights, including voting on shareholder resolutions and board nominations
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ebsa/about-ebsa/our-activities/resource-center/fact-sheets/final-rule-on-prudence-and-loyalty-in-selecting-plan-investments-and-exercising-shareholder-rights
Wishing I was on one of the first ships to Mars…