Transcripts For CSPAN2 Space Commerce Forum Part 2 20240713

CSPAN2 Space Commerce Forum Part 2 July 13, 2024

Listening to my preconceptions. Thank you. [applause] we continue the discussion on the future of the space economy with fcc chair ajit pai on how space enabled communications benefit industrial sectors. Please welcome the Senior Vice President of seatac at the us chamber of commerce. Good morning great to be here, great to see you. I want to thank christian and his team for organizing such an excellent program. I have enjoyed working with christian on a number of important issues to seatac and our Member Companies but at seatac the Chamber Technology Engagement Center we are working to establish a National Data privacy standard that protects allamericans equally and promote policies that enable emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, Automated Vehicles and Unmanned Aircraft to thrive. Our goal is to see a workforce that is skilled and prepared for the digital economy. A Common Thread running through our work is the issue of data. Without a thriving Martin Communications network none of this is possible and that is why i am happy to be here today to introduce chairman ajit pai. He is the son of immigrants the rose through Harvard University and the university of chicago law school. He has worked at the department of justice, he has worked in the private sector and was first appointed to the fcc by president obama and later was appointed by donald trump to be chairman. Under ajit pais leadership he has worked diligently to remove regulatory barriers and streamlined permitting for communications technology, 5g and wireline broadband. I am very appreciative of his leadership to ensure that all americans are connected and benefiting from the digital economy. Please join me in welcoming ajit pai. Thank you so much for that kind introduction and good morning to all of you at the us chamber of commerce, Second Annual space policy summit. It is my second business to the chamber this year to discuss the space economy. You might member in july i was here for a roundtable on a small satellite where i discussed how the sec is promoting American Innovation and investment in space but the fact that you had me back suggests my presentation couldnt have been that bad and that is good news. Many of you have already heard my favorite star trek quote. The final star wars movie comes out this month and i think star wars offers a useful Reference Point for todays discussion. The thing about our culture, it is the most probable franchising movie history, generating 68 billion of revenue since 1977 but consider the global space economy generates 350 billion of revenue each year and some analysts project the number could grow to 3 trillion annually in 30 years. Everybody on twitter might be talking about baby yoda but the space industry, perhaps not as adorable, is a bigger deal economically. Enormous potential for future growth and why is that . Is a quick example that gets to the answer. Across the country, farmers and ranchers are using connected technologies to reduce waste, improve sustainability and increase yields all to the benefit of American Consumers. Many companies are deploying machine to Machine Technology and internet of Things Technology in rural environments to analyze data in realtime, improving operational efficiency. The fcc established Precision Agriculture Task force to promote these trends to enhance productivity in the nations forms and ranchers. This Task Force Includes a representative of the satellite industry because these advances are being powered in part by tremendous growth and innovation. For the longest time costeffective technology is needed to support precision agriculture largely restricted to the geographic footprint of cellular networks. That is changing and changing fast. To provide nongeostationary mobile Satellite Service for 150 small satellites in low earth orbit. The satellite connectivity will enable farmers to have sensors where there is no cell coverage. Supporting new precision agriculture allocation. We have entered an era in which innovation is changing how our farmers are here on earth. All across our economy, we increasingly see Satellite Services integrated with other technologies. Consider 5g, the next generation of wireless communications. In the past and grading satellite technologies with prevailing standards like 4gl the happen after the facts. 5g will offer a Common Network architecture that is accessible to a broader range of Technology Including Satellite Services. Rather than playing catchup Satellite Services will be 5g from the getgo. Many expect 5g to unlock advances in automated cars, thanks to Satellite Technology and ability to multicast and reduce congestion by offloading nontime sensitive traffic from terrestrial facilities which is on demand video streaming and Software Updates that can be distributed to millions of cars simultaneously. We have been doing our part to help our nation and this industry sees the opportunity of the new spaceage, 1. 6 million foot view we see an industry that is changing quickly in space and we are trying to make sure our regulations change with it. A byzantine licensing and Regulatory Approval system could be bottlenecked, it hurts consumers and innovators alike and that makes a difference because now a satellite can be built in a matter of months or weeks or days and launched by a private provider on demand. That is why under my leadership the sec is committed to matching the tempo of the industry we regulate. Our space agenda involves cutting red tape and giving green lights. One area we have been particularly absent his promotion of new and expanded Services Using new nongeostationary satellites. Instead of sending one bird in high orbit we can send a bunch of them into low or mid earth orbit and these constellations will create a mesh network of satellites in space that hold potential to provide consumer focused Residential Broadband at a speed and price point comparable to our competitors. We cannot and will not endorse any one particular business plan. What we are doing is giving every company a fair shot at innovating and competing in the marketplace and that is why we have approved the number of applications for the new generation of low earth orbit satellite constellations. Companies like one win and space x launched their first groups to lower forward satellites and our hope is you open the doors to innovation. Many companies will figure out a way to make it work technically and economically. The fcc has seen an increase in applications for low earth orbit satellites proposing imaging services. Spire and planet are two examples likely to compete in the earth observation industry. These rapidly growing space enabled services are revolutionizing the oil industry, agriculture and Disaster Relief among other disparate sectors. We are also excited about the possibilities of small satellite, short duration small satellite systems have myriad uses including scientific and research and communications and remotesensing but despite these advances as of this summer the Commission Still requires small satellites and short orbital lifetimes, to go through the same regulatory hoops as larger heavier satellites that may stay in low earth orbit for many years. To fix his regular tory mismatch i previewed during my last visit to the chamber the fcc adopted a new separate streamlined licensing procedure for small satellites and the new process enable small satellite applicants to choose a streamlined alternative to the existing licensing procedure. The streamlined process features among other things easier application process, lower application fee and shorter timeline for review. It also offers radiofrequency interference protection for critical communications. To this point i talked about the way the commission is making it easier to reduce satellite in orbit but this does raise a legitimate risk of increased orbital debris. In space, as you heard this morning even a centimeter wide object can wreak devastating damage and that is why under my leadership the commission is currently undertaking its First Comprehensive review of our orbital debris rules since they were adopted a decade and a half ago. Our aim is to improve and clarify these 2004 rules based on improvements and Litigation Practices and address market developments. I would note our new application process for small satellites also promote most orbital debris mitigation. In order to qualify for our streamlined process, small stats must be able to burn up completely in the earths atmosphere, something goes wrong and ground controllers lose contact. Turning to another trend, increasingly American Consumers want and expect to be connected wherever they are which is on the move. This is opening new Market Opportunities with connected vehicles that are on land, on c and into the air. That is why the fcc has made it easier for satellites to targeted stations in motion, improving the transition of data to moving vehicles like ships or airplanes or school buses. I saw a great example of this in person during a trip out west last year. I was in use a in a videoconference with the superintendent of the Kane County School district in the southern part of the state of utah. Kids from remote and Rural Regions can have long, often multihour bus rides to and from school or sporting events and during these long trips many kids would like to do their homework surprisingly, take a test over email and use all the other internet connected tools of the kids have. And many others are on the go in Rural America and that is something the fcc is looking to encourage. The fcc has been working to boost Satellite Service from which many of us are familiar which is gps. Last year the Commission Voted to allow american devices to access the european Global Navigation satellite system known as galileo enabling the galileo system to work in concert with the us gps constellation should make gps more precise or reliable or resilient, a been to consumers and businesses alike. On top of the commissions efforts i want to highlight recent gains by the us delegation last months communications conference. At this event which comes every four years, think of it as spectrum olympics as it were. I was honored to be part of the us delegation and to work with International Leaders from around the world to help create a flexible Regulatory Framework that allows a multibillion dollar global industry. The majority of the conferences agenda was based on satellite issues. When i spoke to the chamber in july i close by talking about the anniversary, and since that with some well well i thought d close my remarks today by going back to the 60s yet again. When we think of the space race we often think of legendary astronauts, neil armstrong, buzz aldrin and john glenn. What many people forget is they were part of a a larger story. When i became chairman i had the privilege to meet the chairman of the fcc during the early part of the Kennedy Administration here to me the most interesting part of our conversation was his description have the fcc when he was chair helped to spur the beginning of the u. S. Commercial space industry. He believed putting satellites into space was more important and putting a human being into space. As he put it, key medication satellites are more important than sending a man into space because they will launch ideas and ideas will last longer than men and women. Thats the way i see it from the 21st century. We are setting the stage for a new space age. Theres no telling what kind of innovation can be realized for the benefit of american and, indeed, Global Consumers if we put in place the right policies. I look forward to working with you to do that and to help companies here and around the world sees the opportunity presented by this different too. Thank you again for your attention and i look forward to an engaging conversation to come. [applause] caleb henry from space news. Two questions. First about the horrible debris mitigation. Do you have any sense of when there might be movement on that or rolling . We continue to consult with our federal partners. I dont have an update at this time but i can tell you our team is actively engaged in the issue and as a midget in my remarks we take this particular issue as an important component of our overall space agenda. We want to make sure the environment in space is safe not just for innovation but safe in terms of the amount of debris that could be resulting from all of these lunches. We are very committed to the issue as are our federal partners. [inaudible] leaning toward a private auction to announcing just last month a public auction. Can you explain why that change happen . I have never made any pronouncement other than the one i made about the weight we were going to proceed and i was a consistent we had four policies we wanted to uphold in this proceeding. Number one, a substantial amount spectrum for 5g, number two, doings as quickly as possible, number three, chewing the federal government receives revenue and the before ensuring the continued delivery of services that are currently delivered using the cspan bactrim. I can sisley sent all the auction on the table c band spectrum. One that would best capture the synergy of those four values. Chairman, thanks to coming. Im from the commercial Space Flight Federation and i would see been alone for the moment speeded so youre the one. How do you balance licensing more small satellites via constellations and the calls for basically overcrowding and space junk, how do you balance the two . On when it as a midget we want to make sure with a framework in place that allows any Innovative Company come in innovative idea to compete in the marketplace. We want every company to have a fair chance to succeed. On the other hand, as i mentioned we want to make sure the space environment is a safe one especially because the costs of debris and other harms in space could last much longer than he would hear on the earth. One of the things were trying to strive for is to make sure we have in place the policies that encourage both of those values. Mention all the things we doing and encouraging launches but debris is an important policy for us as his work with all of the stakeholders to make sure we give everyone a fair chance to succeed. Even be on the horrible debris rules. Thats about that is difficult to strike but thankfully we have a lot of good step at the fcc, federal partners committed to working with us and in my experience with private stakeholders willing to come to the table in good faith with constructive suggestions, and that allows us to hopefully thread the needle and deliver value for consumers both in the short and the long term. A question, a philosophical thinker in the terrestrial, in some terrestrial use cases for spectrum contention between say navy ships afloat coming into ports and a dynamic allocation of spectrum, a dynamic one, and that seems to be a good solution where people can coexist. Do you see that dynamic allocation of line to leo applying to leo . What might that look like . How would we dynamically allocate spectrum for leo . I would have to think a little more carefully about the implications of migrating that framework to leo but what i can say is with respect to the cprs band we did explore the type of sharing arrangement we feel that is the best of both worlds. We been able to accommodate somebody incumbents using things like environmental sensing capability of the spectrum Access Systems to be able to manage, to make sure it incumbent are protected when they need access to the spectrum but also create a substantial amount of spectrum across a huge part of the country were pirated access licenses be appealing or if they are not, then general access licenses would be available especially licensed by will basis. I tend to think carefully about the implications but if think the model weve established has been a productive one and were always looking forward to Innovative Solutions like that and if theres an application in lieu we love to see engineering analysis that might help us move forward. Salt the world problems, all right. Anybody else likes all right. Well, as one of my favorite political blusters George Costanza once it can lead on a high note. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. [applause] the honorable steve stephenn administrator of the federal aviation administration. Hi, everybody. Its great to be here representing the faa at the chamber of commerce space summit, and i think the title of event this year, launch the space economy is very apropos for me about three months on the job because sometimes in the last several weeks i felt like ive been sitting at the top of a rock at myself i been around the world dealing with some very important issues to our country and to our industry. But it really has been an exhilarating and a fascinati

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