The National Space Policy, 81755-81773 [2020-27892]
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Presidential Documents
Federal Register
Vol. 85, No. 242
Wednesday, December 16, 2020
Title 3—
Memorandum of December 9, 2020
The President
The National Space Policy
Memorandum for the Vice President[,] the Secretary of State[,] the Secretary of Defense[,] the Attorney General[,] the Secretary of the Interior[,]
the Secretary of Commerce[,] the Secretary of Transportation[,] the Secretary of Energy[,] the Secretary of Homeland Security[,] the Director of
the Office of Management and Budget[,] the Director of National
Intelligence[,] the Assistant to the President for National Security
Affairs[,] the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration[,] the Director of the Office of Science and Technology
Policy[, and] the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Section 1. References. This directive supersedes Presidential Policy Directive–
4 (June 29, 2010) and references, promotes, and reemphasizes the following
policy directives and memoranda:
a) Presidential Policy Directive 26—National Space Transportation Policy
(November 21, 2013)
b) Executive Order 13803—Reviving the National Space Council (June
30, 2017)
c) Space Policy Directive 1—Reinvigorating America’s Human Space Exploration Program (December 11, 2017)
d) The National Space Strategy (March 23, 2018)
e) Space Policy Directive 2—Streamlining Regulations on Commercial Use
of Space (May 24, 2018)
f) Space Policy Directive 3—National Space Traffic Management Policy
(June 18, 2018)
g) Space Policy Directive 4—Establishment of the United States Space
Force (February 19, 2019)
h) National Security Presidential Memorandum 20—Launch of Spacecraft
Containing Space Nuclear Systems (August 20, 2019)
i) Executive Order 13906—Amending Executive Order 13803—Reviving
the National Space Council (February 13, 2020)
j) Executive Order 13905—Strengthening National Resilience Through Responsible Use of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Services (February
12, 2020)
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k) Executive Order 13914—Encouraging International Support for the Recovery and Use of Space Resources (April 6, 2020)
l) Space Policy Directive 5—Cybersecurity Principles for Space Systems
(September 4, 2020)
Sec. 2. Principles. It is the policy of the United States to ensure that space
operations are consistent with the following principles.
1. It is the shared interest of all nations to act responsibly in space
to ensure the safety, stability, security, and long-term sustainability of space
activities. Responsible space actors operate with openness, transparency,
and predictability to maintain the benefits of space for all humanity.
2. A robust, innovative, and competitive commercial space sector is the
source of continued progress and sustained United States leadership in
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space. The United States remains committed to encouraging and facilitating
the continued growth of a domestic commercial space sector that is globally
competitive, supports national interests, and advances United States leadership in the generation of new markets and innovation-driven entrepreneurship.
3. In this resurgent era of space exploration, the United States will expand
its leadership alongside nations that share its democratic values, respect
for human rights, and economic freedom. Those values will extend with
us to all space destinations as the United States once again steps beyond
Earth, starting with the Moon and continuing to Mars.
4. As established in international law, outer space, including the Moon
and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim
of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means.
The United States will pursue the extraction and utilization of space resources in compliance with applicable law, recognizing those resources as
critical for sustainable exploration, scientific discovery, and commercial operations.
5. All nations have the right to explore and to use space for peaceful
purposes and for the benefit of all humanity, in accordance with applicable
law. Consistent with that principle, the United States will continue to use
space for national security activities, including for the exercise of the inherent
right of self-defense. Unfettered access and freedom to operate in space
is a vital national interest.
6. The United States considers the space systems of all nations to have
the right to pass through and conduct operations in space without interference. Purposeful interference with space systems, including supporting
infrastructure, will be considered an infringement of a nation’s rights. Consistent with the defense of those rights, the United States will seek to
deter, counter, and defeat threats in the space domain that are hostile to
the national interests of the United States and its allies. Any purposeful
interference with or an attack upon the space systems of the United States
or its allies that directly affects national rights will be met with a deliberate
response at a time, place, manner, and domain of our choosing.
Sec. 3. Goals. The United States shall:
1. Promote and incentivize private industry to facilitate the creation of
new global and domestic markets for United States space goods and services,
and strengthen and preserve the position of the United States as the global
partner of choice for international space commerce.
2. Encourage and uphold the rights of nations to use space responsibly
and peacefully by developing and implementing diplomatic, economic, and
security capabilities and strategies to identify and respond to behaviors
that threaten those rights.
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3. Lead, encourage, and expand international cooperation on mutually
beneficial space activities that broaden and extend the benefits of space
for all humanity; further the exploration and use of space for peaceful
purposes; protect the interests of the United States, its allies, and partners;
advance United States interests and values; and enhance access to spacederived information and services.
4. Create a safe, stable, secure, and sustainable environment for space
activities, in collaboration with industry and international partners, through
the development and promotion of responsible behaviors; improved practices
for the collection and sharing of information on space objects; protection
of critical space systems and supporting infrastructures, with special attention
to cybersecurity and supply chains; and measures to mitigate orbital debris.
5. Increase the assurance of national critical functions enabled by commercial, civil, scientific, and national security spacecraft and supporting infrastructure against disruption, degradation, and destruction through the development and fielding of materiel and non-materiel capabilities and rehearsal
of continuity of operations practices.
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6. Extend human economic activity into deep space by establishing a
permanent human presence on the Moon, and, in cooperation with private
industry and international partners, develop infrastructure and services that
will enable science-driven exploration, space resource utilization, and human
missions to Mars.
7. Increase the quality of life for all humanity through the cultivation,
maturation, and development of space-enabled scientific and economic capabilities, including space and Earth resource discovery, management, and
utilization; space and Earth weather and environmental monitoring and prediction; disaster monitoring, prediction, response, and recovery; and planetary defense.
8. Preserve and expand United States leadership in the development
of innovative space technologies, services, and operations. Work with
likeminded international and private partners, to prevent the transfer of
sensitive space capabilities to those who threaten the interests of the United
States, its allies, and its supporting industrial base.
Sec. 4. Cross-sector Space Policy Guidelines. The heads of all executive
departments and agencies (agencies), consistent with their respective missions and authorities, shall execute the guidance provided in this section
consistent with applicable law.
Heads of agencies with representation on the National Space Council shall
designate a senior official with responsibility for overseeing their respective
agency’s implementation of the National Space Policy. This official shall
periodically report to the National Space Council on the progress of implementation of this policy within respective agencies.
1. Foundational Activities and Capabilities. Foundational activities and
capabilities enable the United States to fulfill the principles and goals directed in this policy.
(a) Strengthen United States Leadership in Space-related Science and
Technology. Heads of agencies shall:
i. Reinforce United States technological leadership by promoting technology development; improved industrial capacity; a robust supplier base;
and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education
opportunities necessary to support United States leadership in space innovation;
ii. Conduct basic and applied research that increases space capabilities
and decreases costs, if such research is best supported by the Government;
and
iii. Encourage commercial space innovation and entrepreneurship
through targeted investment in promising technologies that improve the
Nation’s leadership in space operations.
(b) Strengthen and Secure the United States Space Industrial Base. To
further foster the security and resilience of the domestic space industrial
base, heads of agencies, to the maximum extent practicable and consistent
with applicable law, shall:
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i. Promote the availability of space-related industrial capabilities in support of national critical functions;
ii. Identify suppliers and manufacturers key to the United States spacerelated science, technology, and industrial bases and incentivizing them
to remain in, or return to, the United States;
iii. Support innovative entrepreneurial space companies through appropriate deregulatory actions;
iv. Strengthen the security, integrity, and reliability of the supply chains
of United States space-related science, technology, and industrial bases
by identifying and eliminating dependence on suppliers owned by, controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of foreign adversaries,
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and engaging with United States and international industrial partners to
improve processes and effectively manage and secure supply chains; and
v. Incorporate cybersecurity principles across all phases of space systems
design, development, acquisition, and deployment.
(c) Enhance Capabilities for Assured Access to Space. United States access
to space depends in the first instance on assured launch capabilities.
To the extent consistent with applicable law, United States Government
payloads shall be launched on vehicles manufactured in the United States,
unless approved for foreign launch in support of:
i. No-exchange-of-funds agreements involving international scientific programs, launches of scientific instruments on international spacecraft, or
other cooperative government-to-government agreements;
ii. Launches of secondary-technology demonstrators or scientific payloads for which no United States launch service is available;
iii. Hosted payload arrangements on spacecraft not owned by the United
States Government; or
iv. Other circumstances on a case-by-case exemption as coordinated
by the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and the
Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, consistent with
established interagency standards and coordination guidelines.
v. To the maximum extent practicable and consistent with their responsibilities and applicable law, the heads of agencies shall:
1. Work collaboratively to acquire space launch services and hosted
Government payload arrangements that are secure, reliable, cost-effective, and responsive to United States Government needs;
2. Enhance operational efficiency, increase capacity, and reduce
launch costs by investing in the modernization of space launch infrastructure;
3. Permit the launch of United States Government spacecraft manufactured in the United States from territories of allied and likeminded
nations when launched on vehicles manufactured in the United
States; and
4. When sufficient United States commercial capabilities and services
do not exist, support industry-led efforts to rapidly develop new and
modernized launch systems and technologies necessary to assure and
to sustain future reliable, resilient, and efficient access to space.
(d) Safeguard Space Components of Critical Infrastructure. The space
domain is important to the function of critical infrastructure vital to the
security, economy, resilience, public health, and safety of the United
States. Multiple infrastructure sectors depend on reliable access to spacebased systems to perform their functions.
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i. The United States will develop strategies, capabilities, and options
to respond to any purposeful interference with or attack on the space
systems of the United States or its allies that directly affects national
rights, especially those necessary for the operation of the Nation’s critical
infrastructure. Such strategies, capabilities, and options will allow for
a deliberate response at a time, place, manner, and domain of its choosing.
ii. The Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and
the Director of National Intelligence, in consultation with other heads
of agencies, as appropriate, shall develop and maintain focused threat
and risk assessments on the effect of deleterious actions in the space
domain to the Nation’s critical infrastructure.
(e) Maintain and Enhance Space-based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Systems. The United States must maintain its leadership in
the service, provision, and responsible use of global navigation satellite
systems (GNSS). To that end, the United States shall:
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i. Provide continuous worldwide access, for peaceful civil uses, to the
Global Positioning System (GPS) and its Government-provided augmentations, free of direct user fees;
ii. Engage with international GNSS providers to ensure compatibility,
encourage interoperability with likeminded nations, promote transparency
in civil service provision, and enable market access for United States
industry;
iii. Operate and maintain the GPS constellation to satisfy civil and
national security needs, consistent with published performance standards
and interface specifications;
iv. Improve the cybersecurity of GPS, its augmentations, and federally
owned GPS-enabled devices, and foster commercial space sector adoption
of cyber-secure GPS enabled systems consistent with cybersecurity principles for space systems;
v. Allow for the continued use of allied and other trusted international
PNT services in conjunction with GPS in a manner that ensures the
resilience of PNT services and is consistent with applicable law;
vi. Invest in domestic capabilities and support international activities
to detect, analyze, mitigate, and increase resilience to harmful interference
to GNSS;
vii. Identify and promote, as appropriate, multiple and diverse complementary PNT systems or approaches for critical infrastructure and mission-essential functions; and
viii. Promote the responsible use of United States space-based PNT
services and capabilities in civil and commercial sectors at the Federal,
State, and local levels, including the utilization of multiple and diverse
complementary PNT systems or approaches for national critical functions.
(f) Develop and Retain Space Professionals. The primary goals of space
professional development are to achieve mission success in space operations and acquisition; stimulate innovation to improve commercial, civil,
and national security space capabilities; and advance science, exploration,
and discovery. Toward these ends, the heads of agencies, in cooperation
with industry and academia, as appropriate, shall:
i. Establish standards for accession and career progression;
ii. Seek to create educational and professional development opportunities
for the current space workforce, including internships and fellowships,
and to implement measures to recruit, develop, maintain, and retain skilled
space professionals, including engineering and scientific personnel and
experienced space system developers and operators, across Government
and commercial sectors;
iii. Promote and expand public-private partnerships within space and
technology industries to foster transdisciplinary educational achievement
in STEM programs, supported by targeted investments in such initiatives;
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iv. Promote the exchange of scientists, engineers, and technologists
among Federal laboratories, universities, and the commercial space sector
to facilitate the exchange of diverse ideas and to build capacity in space
technical knowledge and skills;
v. Develop the means to recruit and to employ qualified and skilled
space professionals from likeminded nations to increase United States
leadership in space commerce, science, exploration, and security; and
vi. Support training and education in key enabling scientific and engineering disciplines, including: artificial intelligence and machine learning,
autonomy, orbital mechanics, collision avoidance methods, robotics, computer science and engineering, digital design and engineering,
electromagnetics, materials science, hypersonics, geoscience, quantum-related technologies and applications, and cybersecurity.
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(g) Improve Space System Development and Procurement. The heads
of agencies shall:
i. Improve timely acquisition and deployment of space systems through
enhancements in estimating costs, assessing technological risk and maturity, and leveraging and understanding emerging industrial base capabilities
and capacity;
ii. Reduce programmatic risk through improved management of program
requirements, reduce the use of cost-plus contracts, where appropriate,
and take advantage of cost-effective opportunities to test high-risk components, payloads, and technologies in digital, space, or other relevant environments;
iii. Create opportunities to strengthen and to develop pertinent expertise
in the Government workforce through internships and fellowships with
the commercial space sector;
iv. Pursue and endorse cooperative research and development agreements;
v. Incorporate rapid prototyping, experimentation, and other efforts to
accelerate development cycles to improve performance and to reduce costs;
vi. Embrace innovation to cultivate and to sustain an entrepreneurial
United States research and development environment;
vii. Engage with the industrial base to improve processes and effectively
manage and secure supply chains; and
viii. Promote, where consistent with applicable rules and regulations
concerning Government contracting, procurement of critical materials and
sub-tier components, such as solar cells and microelectronics, from domestic and other trusted sources of supply.
(h) Strengthen Interagency and Commercial Partnerships. As facilitated
by the Executive Secretary of the National Space Council, the heads of
agencies shall, consistent with applicable law:
i. Strengthen existing partnerships and pursue new partnerships among
interagency members, the United States commercial space and related
sectors, and United States academic institutions through cooperation, collaboration, information sharing, innovative procurements, and alignment
of common pursuits to achieve United States goals;
ii. Encourage the sharing of capabilities and the exchange of expertise
among agencies and, to the maximum extent practicable, with the United
States commercial sectors to strengthen the Nation’s ability to pursue
its strategic goals;
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iii. Develop implementation and response strategies and leverage United
States capabilities to increase technology innovation and achieve desired
outcomes involving space operations relating to science, public safety,
national security, and economic growth.
2. International Cooperation.
(a) Strengthen United States Leadership in Space. The heads of agencies,
in collaboration with the Secretary of State, shall:
i. Demonstrate United States leadership in space-related fora and activities to strengthen deterrence and assure allies and partners of its commitment to preserving the safety, stability, security, and long-term sustainability of space activities;
ii. Identify areas of mutual interest and benefit, such as collective selfdefense and the promotion of secure and resilient space-related infrastructure;
iii. Lead the enhancement of safety, stability, security, and long-term
sustainability in space by promoting a framework for responsible behavior
in outer space, including the pursuit and effective implementation of
best practices, standards, and norms of behavior;
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iv. Encourage other nations to adopt United States space regulatory
approaches and commercial space sector practices;
v. Encourage interoperability among United States, allied, and partner
space systems, services, and data;
vi. Facilitate new market opportunities for United States commercial
space capabilities and services, including commercial applications that
rely on United States Government-provided space systems;
vii. Promote the adoption of policies and practices internationally that
facilitate full, open, and timely access to Government space-derived environmental data on a reciprocal basis;
viii. Promote appropriate burden-, cost-, and risk-sharing among international partners; and
ix. Augment United States capabilities by leveraging existing and planned
space capabilities of allies and partners.
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(b) Identify and Expand Areas for International Cooperation. The heads
of agencies shall identify potential areas for international cooperation
across the spectrum of commercial, civil, and national security space
activities that increase the understanding of Earth and space sciences,
expand the detection of hazardous near-Earth objects, ensure the freedom
of operation in and through space, increase the quality and safety of
life on Earth, extend human presence and economic activity beyond low
Earth orbit, and reduce the cost of achieving the Nation’s goals.
i. The Secretary of State, in coordination with the heads of agencies,
shall:
1. Carry out diplomatic and public diplomacy efforts to strengthen the
understanding of, and support for, United States national space policies and programs and to promote the international use of United
States space capabilities, systems, and services;
2. Encourage international support for the recovery and use of outer
space resources;
3. Lead the consideration of proposals and concepts for arms control
measures if they are equitable, effectively verifiable, and enhance the
national security of the United States and its allies;
4. Pursue bilateral and multilateral transparency and confidence-building measures to encourage responsible actions in, and the peaceful
use of, outer space to strengthen the safety, stability, security, and
long-term sustainability of space activities, to increase predictability
and reduce the risk of misunderstanding and inadvertent conflict escalation; and
5. Cooperate with likeminded international partners to establish standards of safe and responsible behavior, including openness, transparency, and predictability, to facilitate the detection, identification,
and attribution of actions in space that are inconsistent with the safety, stability, security, and long-term sustainability of space activities.
ii. The Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, in
coordination with the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA), the Secretary of Commerce, and the heads of
other agencies as appropriate, shall lead the development of national
and international planetary protection guidelines, working with scientific,
commercial, and international partners, for the appropriate protection of
planetary bodies and Earth from harmful biological contamination.
3. Preserving the Space Environment to Enhance the Long-term Sustainability of Space Activities.
(a) Preserve the Space Environment. To preserve the space environment
for responsible, peaceful, and safe use, and with a focus on minimizing
space debris the United States shall:
i. Continue leading the development and adoption of international and
industry standards and policies, such as the Guidelines for the Long-
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term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities and the Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses
of Outer Space;
ii. Continue to make available basic space situational awareness (SSA)
data, and provide for basic space traffic coordination (including conjunction and reentry notifications), free of direct user fees while supporting
new opportunities for United States commercial and non-profit products
and services;
iii. Develop, maintain, and use SSA information from commercial, civil,
and national security sources in an open architecture data repository to
detect, identify, and attribute actions in space that are inconsistent with
the safety, stability, security, and the long-term sustainability of space
activities;
iv. Develop and maintain space flight safety standards and best practices
to coordinate space traffic;
v. Ensure that, consistent with international obligations, timely and
accurate information concerning United States space objects launched into
Earth orbit or beyond is entered into the United States domestic space
object registry maintained by the Secretary of State and internationally
registered with the United Nations as soon as practicable;
vi. Limit the creation of new debris, consistent with mission requirements
and cost effectiveness, during the procurement and operation of spacecraft,
launch services, and conduct of tests and experiments in space by following
and periodically updating the United States Government Orbital Debris
Mitigation Standard Practices;
vii. Regularly assess existing guidelines for non-government activities
in or beyond Earth orbit, and maintain a timely and responsive regulatory
environment for licensing those activities, consistent with United States
law and international obligations;
viii. Pursue research and development of technologies and techniques
to characterize and to mitigate risks from orbital debris, reduce hazards,
and increase understanding of the current and future debris environment;
ix. Evaluate and pursue, in coordination with allies and partners, active
debris removal as a potential long-term approach to ensure the safety
of flight in key orbital regimes;
x. Require approval of exceptions to the United States Government
Orbital Debris Mitigation Standard Practices from the head of the sponsoring agency and notification to the Secretary of State; and
xi. Continue to foster the development of best practices to prevent
on-orbit collisions by collaborating with the commercial space sector and
likeminded nations to: maintain and improve space object databases; pursue common international data standards and integrity measures; provide
services and disseminate orbital tracking information, including predictions
of space-object conjunctions, to commercial and international entities; and
expand SSA to deep space.
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(b) Effective Export Policies.
i. The United States will work to stem the flow of advanced space
technology to unauthorized parties while ensuring the competitiveness
of the United States space industrial base. The heads of agencies are
responsible for protecting against adverse technology transfer in the conduct of their programs.
ii. The United States Government shall:
1. Consider letters of request and the issuance of licenses for spacerelated exports on a case-by-case basis, pursuant to, and in accordance
with, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), the Conventional Arms Transfer Policy, the Export Administration Regulations, and other applicable laws and commitments;
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2. Encourage the export of space-related items when doing so would
not threaten the national interest;
3. Make eligible for streamlined authorization the export of space-related items that are generally available in the global marketplace, do
not provide critical military functions, and are destined for certain allied or partner countries.
iii. Consistent with the foregoing, and consistent with existing law and
regulation, license applications for exports of space-related items will
be subject to a presumption of denial when destined for arms-embargoed
destinations or other embargoed destinations.
iv. Sensitive or advanced spacecraft-related exports may require government-to-government transfers through the Foreign Military Sales process.
The Secretary of State shall determine whether current arms transfer and
nonproliferation policy directives provide sufficient guidance for the transfer of emerging technologies and space capabilities.
(c) Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion.
i. The United States will develop and use space nuclear power and
propulsion (SNPP) systems where such systems enable achievement of
United States scientific, national security, and commercial objectives. The
United States will adhere to principles of safety, stability, security, and
long-term sustainability in its development and utilization of space nuclear
systems. In accordance with the National Security Policy Memorandum–
20 Presidential Memorandum on Launch of Spacecraft Containing Space
Nuclear Systems (August 20, 2019), authorization for launches of spacecraft
containing space nuclear systems shall follow a tiered process based on
the characteristics of the system, level of potential hazard, and national
security considerations.
ii. The Administrator of NASA and the Secretary of Defense shall conduct
and support design, development, and utilization of space nuclear systems,
as appropriate, to enable and achieve their respective mission objectives.
iii. The Secretary of Energy shall support the design, development,
and utilization of SNPP systems to enable and achieve the scientific,
exploration, and national security objectives of the United States, in coordination with sponsoring agencies and other entities, as appropriate. The
Secretary of Energy shall maintain, on a full cost recovery basis, the
capability and infrastructure to develop, furnish, and conduct safety analyses for space nuclear systems for use in United States Government space
systems.
iv. The Secretary of Energy, in cooperation with the Secretary of Homeland Security and the heads of appropriate agencies, shall provide technical
and operational support to the launch of SNPP systems to prepare for
and respond to any potential radiological impacts of a launch to ensure
the protection of public health and safety.
v. The Secretary of Commerce, in coordination with other appropriate
agencies, shall promote responsible United States commercial space nuclear
system investment, innovation, and operations.
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vi. The Secretary of Transportation shall, in consultation with other
applicable agencies, serve as the licensing authority for commercial
launches of space nuclear systems.
(d) Protection of Electromagnetic Spectrum. In matters pertaining to the
electromagnetic spectrum the United States shall:
i. Seek to protect access to, and operation in, the electromagnetic spectrum and related orbital assignments required to support the use of space
by the United States Government, its allies, and partners, and United
States commercial users;
ii. Preserve and protect the electromagnetic spectrum required to sustain
existing and emergent space-based capabilities, including communications,
navigation, and Earth observation;
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iii. Explicitly address requirements for electromagnetic spectrum and
orbital assignments prior to approving acquisition of space capabilities;
iv. Coordinate stable and predictable national and international regulatory frameworks to enable and support the competitiveness of space
services and systems licensed by the United States;
v. Seek to remove or to streamline regulatory impediments that may
discourage commercial space communications providers from obtaining
licenses from the United States;
vi. Conduct and publish thorough operational, technical, and policy
impact assessments, in coordination with Government space system operators, prior to reallocating spectrum for commercial, Government, or shared
use;
vii. Enhance capabilities and techniques, in cooperation with commercial, civil, and international partners, to detect, identify, locate, and attribute sources of radio frequency interference, and to take necessary measures to sustain the electromagnetic environment in which critical United
States space systems operate;
viii. Seek appropriate regulatory approval under United States domestic
regulations for United States Government Earth stations operating with
commercially owned satellites, consistent with the regulatory approvals
granted to analogous commercial Earth stations; and
ix. Prioritize research and development of advanced technologies, innovative spectrum-utilization methods, and spectrum-sharing tools and techniques that increase spectrum access, efficiency, and effectiveness.
(e) Cybersecurity for United States Space Systems. In matters relating
to cybersecurity for space systems the United States Government shall:
i. Seek to ensure space systems and their supporting infrastructure,
including software, are designed, developed, and operated using risk-based,
cybersecurity-informed engineering;
ii. Collaborate with industry and encourage development and integration
of cybersecurity plans for space systems that mitigate unauthorized access
to critical space system functions, reduce vulnerabilities, protect ground
systems, promote cybersecurity hygiene practices, and manage supply
chain risks;
iii. Collaborate with interagency, allied, partner, and commercial space
system operators to promote the development and adoption of best practices and mitigations;
iv. Leverage widely adopted best practices and standards in the creation
of rules and regulations, as appropriate; and
v. Determine appropriate cybersecurity measures for Government space
systems through a mission risk assessment specific to a space system’s
design and operations.
(f) Assurance of National Critical Functions. The United States Government, in cooperation with private and public sectors, shall:
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i. Assure space-enabled national critical functions by developing the
techniques, measures, relationships, and capabilities necessary to maintain
continuity of services;
ii. Pursue efforts to enhance the protection, cybersecurity, and resilience
of selected spacecraft and supporting infrastructure;
iii. Periodically conduct operationally-focused exercises to test the continuity of national critical functions and Federal mission assurance in
a degraded or denied space environment due to natural or manmade
disruptions;
iv. Incorporate the simulated disruption of space systems into interagency
and national exercises; and
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v. Address mission assurance and architectural resilience through the
design, acquisition, command and control, exercise, and operation of materiel and non-materiel space and non-space capabilities.
Sec. 5. Sector Guidelines. The United States conducts space activities in
three distinct but interdependent sectors: commercial, civil, and national
security. Consistent with all applicable legal obligations agencies shall comply with the following guidance.
1. Commercial Space Guidelines.
The term ‘‘commercial,’’ for the purposes of this policy, refers to goods,
services, or activities provided by private sector enterprises that bear a
reasonable portion of the investment risk and responsibility for the activity,
operate in accordance with typical market-based incentives for controlling
cost and optimizing return on investment, and have the legal capacity to
offer those goods or services to existing or potential non-governmental customers.
A United States commercial space sector that leads in the global space
marketplace is foundational to national strategic objectives that include increased and sustained prosperity, free market principles, enhanced international partnerships and collaboration, technological innovation, and scientific discovery, and is vital to United States and allied security.
(a) Promoting a Robust Commercial Space Industry. To promote a robust
domestic commercial space industry and strengthen United States leadership as the country of choice for conducting commercial space activities,
the heads of agencies shall:
i. Purchase and use United States commercial space capabilities and
services, to the maximum practical extent under existing law, when such
capabilities and services meet United States Government requirements;
ii. Prioritize partnerships with commercial industry to meet Government
requirements through the modification of existing commercial space capabilities and services when potential system modifications represent a costeffective and timely acquisition approach for the Government and are
consistent with system and mission-security practices and principles;
iii. Consider inventive, nontraditional arrangements for acquiring commercial space goods and services to meet United States Government requirements, including measures such as hosting Government capabilities
on commercial spacecraft, purchasing scientific or operational data from
commercial satellite operators in support of Government missions,
leveraging satellite servicing or on-orbit manufacturing, and public-private
partnerships;
iv. Develop Government space systems only when in the national interest
and no suitable or cost-effective United States commercial or, as appropriate, international commercial capability or service is available or could
be available in time to meet Government requirements;
v. Refrain from conducting United States Government space activities
that preclude, discourage, or compete with United States commercial space
activities, unless required by national security or public safety;
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vi. Pursue opportunities for transferring routine operational space functions to the commercial space sector where beneficial and cost-effective
and consistent with legal, security, or safety needs;
vii. Cultivate increased technological innovation and entrepreneurship
and provide alternatives to predatory foreign investment in the commercial
space sector through the use of incentives such as prizes, competitions,
and competitive grants;
viii. Ensure that United States Government space technology and infrastructure are made available for commercial use on a reimbursable, noninterference and equitable basis to the maximum practical extent, consistent
with applicable laws and national security interests;
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ix. Promote continued commercial United States leadership in space
by making available, consistent with applicable laws and national security,
commercially relevant technologies developed by Federal research and
development programs to United States industry;
x. Create transparent regulatory processes that minimize, consistent with
national security and public safety, the regulatory burden and uncertainty
for commercial space activities and that are flexible so as to accommodate
and to adapt to technical development, business innovation, and market
demands;
xi. Encourage State and local governments to support the commercial
space sector for the purposes of cultivating a technically skilled work
force, diversifying innovation potential, and stimulating economic growth;
xii. Foster fair and open global trade and commerce through the promotion of standards and regulations that have been developed with input
from United States industry;
xiii. Encourage the purchase and use of United States commercial space
services and capabilities in international cooperative arrangements;
xiv. Encourage the growth of United States commercial human space
exploration, including logistical provisioning, delivery, and the continued
commercialization of operations in and beyond low Earth orbit, and the
use of microgravity as a domain for research and development; and
xv. Promote the export of United States commercial space goods and
services, including those developed by small and medium-sized enterprises, for use in international markets, consistent with United States
export controls and national security objectives.
(b) International Trade Agreements. The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has the primary responsibility for international trade agreements to which the United States is a party. USTR, in consultation with
other relevant heads of agencies, will lead any effort relating to the negotiation and implementation of trade disciplines governing trade in goods
and services related to space.
(c) Mission Authorization of Novel Activities. The Secretary of Commerce,
in coordination with the National Space Council, shall:
i. Identify whether any planned space activities fall beyond the scope
of existing authorization and supervision processes necessary to meet international obligations; and
ii. Lead, if necessary, the development of minimally burdensome, responsive, transparent, and adaptive review, authorization, and supervision processes for such activities, consistent with national security and public
safety interests, with a presumption of approval and prompt appeals process.
(d) Foster the Development of Space Collision Warning Measures. The
Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the Secretaries of State, Defense, and Transportation, the Administrator of NASA, and the heads
of other agencies, shall collaborate, consistent with applicable law, with
industry and foreign nations to:
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i. Maintain and improve space object identification databases;
ii. Pursue common international data standards and data integrity measures;
iii. Disseminate orbital tracking information to commercial and international entities, including predictions of space object conjunctions;
iv. Enhance the common understanding of resident space objects;
v. Develop and implement standard practices for conjunction assessment
operations to ensure the safety of flight of all space operations, across
all orbital regimes; and
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vi. Develop common commercial operating guidelines and propose licensing requirements, consistent with respective agency mission and authorities, for large constellations, rendezvous and proximity operations,
satellite servicing, small satellites, end-of-mission planning, and other
classes of space operations.
2. Civil Space Guidelines.
(a) Space Science, Exploration, and Discovery. The United States shall
lead an innovative and sustainable program of scientific discovery, technology development, and space exploration with commercial and international partners to enable human expansion across the solar system and
to bring back to Earth new knowledge and opportunities. Beginning with
missions beyond low Earth orbit, the United States will lead the return
of humans to the Moon for long-term exploration and utilization, followed
by human missions to Mars and other destinations.
(b) The Administrator of NASA, in collaboration with other appropriate
agencies, Federal laboratories, and commercial partners, shall, consistent
with applicable law:
i. Lead a program to land the next American man and the first American
woman on the Moon by 2024, followed by a sustained presence on the
Moon by 2028, and the subsequent landing of the first human on Mars;
ii. Continue the operation of the International Space Station (ISS) in
cooperation with international partners for scientific, technological, commercial, diplomatic, and educational purposes while developing separate
commercial platforms to sustain continuous United States presence in
and utilization of low Earth orbit and to transition beyond ISS operations;
iii. Develop partnerships to foster new economic activities in and beyond
low Earth orbit that enable NASA and other customers to purchase services
and capabilities at lower cost;
iv. In consultation with international and commercial partners as appropriate, support activities that include the presence of humans in space;
maintain continuous human presence in Earth orbit by transitioning from
ISS to commercial platforms and services; and continue to support future
objectives in human space exploration;
v. Continue as the launch agent for the civil space sector while utilizing
commercial space capabilities and services to the maximum practical extent;
vi. Continue to grow partnerships with the commercial space sector
to enable safe, reliable, and cost-effective transport of crew and cargo
to destinations in low Earth and cislunar orbits, and to the lunar surface;
vii. Lead space exploration technology development efforts in collaboration with industry, academia, and international partners to increase capabilities for future human and robotic space exploration missions while
decreasing mission costs;
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viii. Maintain a sustained robotic presence in the solar system with
international and commercial partners to: prepare for future human missions; conduct scientific investigations; map and characterize water, mineral, and elemental resources; and demonstrate new technologies;
ix. Conduct space science for observations, research, and analysis of
the Sun, space weather, the solar system, and the universe to enhance
knowledge of the cosmos, advance scientific understanding, understand
the conditions that may support the development of life, and search for
planetary bodies and Earth-like planets in orbit around other stars;
x. Pursue capabilities, in cooperation with other agencies, commercial,
and international partners, to detect, track, catalog, and characterize near
Earth objects to warn of any predicted Earth impact and to identify potentially resource-rich planetary objects; and
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xi. Develop options, in collaboration with other agencies, and international partners, for planetary defense actions both on Earth and in
space to mitigate the potential effects of a predicted near Earth object
impact or trajectory.
(c) Observation of the Earth’s Surface, Environment, and Weather. To
continue and to enhance a broad array of programs of space-based observation, research, and analysis of the Earth’s surface, oceans, and atmosphere
and their interactions, and to improve life on Earth:
i. The Administrator of NASA, in coordination with the heads of other
appropriate agencies, shall conduct a program of research to understand
Earth’s interconnected systems, including the development of new Earth
observing satellites for other agencies to use for operational purposes.
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ii. The Secretary of Commerce, through the Administrator of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), shall be responsible
for the requirements, funding, and operation of civil environmental satellites and data-gathering in support of atmospheric and space weather
forecasting. NOAA may utilize NASA as the acquisition agent for operational environmental satellites for those activities and programs.
iii. The Secretary of Commerce, through the Administrator of NOAA,
and the Secretary of Defense, through the Secretary of the Air Force,
in coordination with the Administrator of NASA and the heads of other
appropriate agencies, shall:
1. Continue existing coverage responsibilities;
2. Develop a plan to provide Earth environmental satellite observation
capabilities, including ground systems for operations, that meet current and future civil and national security requirements; and
3. Ensure the continued sharing of data from all systems.
iv. In support of operational requirements the Secretary of Commerce,
in coordination with the Secretary of Defense, the Administrator of NASA,
and the heads of other appropriate agencies, shall:
1. Collaborate with academia, the commercial sector, and international
partners to ensure uninterrupted operational environmental satellite
observations using cost-effective, resilient methods to acquire global
meteorological satellite data;
2. Coordinate, as practicable, on future satellite and ground system
architectures to reduce duplication of space acquisition processes and
capabilities;
3. Utilize international partnerships to sustain and enhance a robust
Earth observations program that meets civil and national security requirements, including weather, climate, ocean, and coastal observations; and
4. Purchase commercial environmental data for use in meteorological
and space weather models when appropriate.
v. The Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, in
consultation with the Assistant to the President for National Security
Affairs, shall coordinate the implementation of the National Space Weather
Strategy and Action Plan. The goals of this strategy are to: enhance the
protection of Government and commercial systems against the effects of
space weather; disseminate accurate and timely space weather characterization and forecasts; and establish plans and procedures for responding
to and recovering from space weather events. Agencies contributing to
the United States Government Earth science enterprise shall pursue innovative partnerships with the commercial sector to make their agency’s Earth
observation data more easily discoverable, accessible, and usable to the
public.
(d) Land Remote Sensing.
i. The Secretary of the Interior, through the Director of the United
States Geological Survey (USGS), shall:
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1. Conduct integrated predictive science, which includes research,
monitoring, assessments, and modeling, on natural and human-induced changes to Earth’s land, land cover, and inland surface waters,
and manage a national global land surface data archive and its distribution;
2. Determine the operational requirements for collecting, processing,
archiving, and distributing land surface data to the United States Government and other users;
3. Use international and commercial partnerships to help sustain and
enhance land surface observations from space; and
4. Utilize, consistent with national security classification guidelines
and sharing agreements and in coordination with the Secretary of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence, remote sensing information related to the environment and to disasters that is acquired
from national security space systems.
ii. The Secretary of the Interior, through the Director of the USGS,
and the Administrator of NASA shall work together to maintain a sustainable land-imaging program for operational land remote sensing observations
that meets the needs of core United States users and leverages government,
commercial, and international capabilities.
iii. The Administrators of NASA and NOAA, and the Director of the
USGS shall:
1. Collaborate, as practicable, on future satellite and ground system
architectures to ensure that civil space acquisition processes and capabilities are not unnecessarily duplicated; and
2. Continue to develop civil applications and information tools based
on data collected by Earth observation satellites. They shall, to the
maximum extent practicable, develop those applications and tools
using known standards and open protocols and make data and applications from United States Government satellites openly available to
the public.
i. The Secretary of Commerce shall license and regulate private remote
sensing systems consistent with the recognition that long-term United
States national security and foreign policy interests are best served by
ensuring that United States industry continues to lead the rapidly maturing
and highly competitive commercial space-based remote sensing market.
The Secretary of Commerce shall consult with the Secretary of State
and Secretary of Defense in these matters in accordance with applicable
law.
3. National Security Space Guidelines.
(a) The United States seeks a secure, stable, and accessible space domain,
which has become a warfighting domain as a result of competitors seeking
to challenge United States and allied interests in space.
(b) Strength and security in space contribute to United States and international security and stability. It is imperative that the United States
adapt its national security organizations, policies, strategies, doctrine, security classification frameworks, and capabilities to deter hostilities, demonstrate responsible behaviors, and, if necessary, defeat aggression and
protect United States interests in space through:
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i. Robust space domain awareness of all activities in space with the
ability to characterize and attribute potentially threatening behavior;
ii. Communicating to competitors which space activities the United
States considers undesirable or irresponsible, while promoting, demonstrating, and communicating responsible norms of behavior;
iii. Assured, credible, and demonstrable responses to defend vital national interests in space;
iv. Resilient space-enabled missions that reduce the impact or deny
the effectiveness of adversaries’ actions; and
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v. Synchronized diplomatic, information, military, and economic strategies that:
1. Deter adversaries and other actors from conducting activities that
may threaten the peaceful use of space by the United States, its allies,
and partners; and
2. Compel and impose costs on adversaries to cease behaviors that
threaten the peaceful use of space by the United States, its allies, and
partners.
(c) The United States Space Force will pursue these objectives as the
primary branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for organizing, training, and equipping forces capable of projecting power in,
from, and to space to defend United States national interests; protecting
the freedom of operation in, from, and to the space domain; and enhancing
the lethality and effectiveness of the Joint Force. The United States Space
Force, and other branches of the Armed Forces as appropriate, will also
present forces to the United States Space Command, and to the other
Combatant Commands as appropriate, to deliver combat and combat support capabilities necessary to enable prompt and sustained offensive and
defensive space operations, and to provide space support to joint operations
in all domains.
(d) Synchronized National Security Space.
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i. The space domain is a priority intelligence and military operational
domain for the United States. The United States Intelligence Community
and Department of Defense use space capabilities to provide strategic,
operational, and tactical intelligence and decisive military advantages to
the Nation.
ii. The Secretary of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence,
in consultation with the heads of other appropriate agencies, Federal
laboratories, and, as appropriate, in partnership with United States industry, shall:
1. Develop, acquire, and operate space systems and supporting information systems and networks to aid United States national security
interests and to enable defense and intelligence operations;
2. Procure resilient space capabilities and services to provide defense
and intelligence operations during times of competition and armed
conflict;
3. Develop and apply advanced technologies, capabilities, and concepts that anticipate and rapidly respond to changes in the threat environment and improve the timeliness and quality of intelligence and
data to support operations;
4. Identify and characterize current and future threats to United States
space missions for the purposes of enabling effective deterrence and
defense;
5. Develop resilient, cost-effective architectures and accelerate acquisition and fielding of space capabilities with sufficient capacity to increase the resilience of space-enabled missions and to expand the
ability to field or to rapidly reconstitute space capabilities based on
the strategic environment;
6. Develop, implement, and exercise plans, procedures, techniques,
and capabilities necessary to assure critical national security spaceenabled missions;
7. Protect and defend United States national security space assets
through integration and synchronization of operational command and
control capabilities and activities that foster seamless execution between the Intelligence Community and Department of Defense;
8. Promote, in collaboration with the Secretary of State, norms of behavior for responsible national security space activities that protect
United States, allied, and partner interests in space;
9. Ensure cost-effective resilience of space capabilities and assurance
of space-enabled missions, including supporting information systems
and networks, commensurate with their planned use and taking into
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account the value these systems provide in countering or mitigating
threats, the consequences of their loss or degradation, and the availability of other means to perform the mission;
10. Expand and increase emphasis on disruptive and emerging commercial space capabilities and provide assessments to United States
and allied leadership on the effects of these capabilities on national
security;
11. Integrate cybersecurity into space operations and capabilities to retain positive control of space systems and verify the integrity of critical functions, missions, and services they provide;
12. Improve, develop, integrate, demonstrate, and proliferate in cooperation with relevant interagency, international, intergovernmental,
and commercial entities, space domain awareness capabilities to predict, detect, warn, characterize, and attribute human-caused and naturally occurring activities that pose threats to space systems of United
States interest;
13. Provide to the Department of Commerce and other agencies, as
necessary, SSA information that supports national security, civil, and
human space flight activities, planetary defense from hazardous nearEarth objects, and commercial and allied space operations;
14. Collaborate with allies and partners actively engaging in space security and intelligence operations to incentivize and institute mechanisms for the exchange of relevant space, and space-related information; and
15. Collaborate with the Secretaries of Commerce and Energy, the Administrator of NASA, and the heads of other relevant agencies to periodically review the health and competitiveness of the United States
space industrial base to determine whether the domestic space industry can meet the technical requirements, production, and service of
national security space programs.
(e) Department of Defense.
i. The Secretary of Defense shall:
1. Defend the use of space for United States national security purposes, the United States economy, allies, and partners;
2. Protect freedom of navigation and preserve lines of communication
that are open, safe, and secure in the space domain;
3. Ensure that space capabilities are of sufficient capability and capacity to enable decisive offensive and defensive space operations vital
to defending United States, allied, and partner interests in space while
continuing to sustain support to joint operations;
4. Conduct operations in, from, and through space to deter conflict,
and if deterrence fails, to defeat aggression while protecting and defending United States vital interests with allies and partners;
5. Provide, as launch agent for the Department of Defense and the
Intelligence Community, affordable and timely space access for national security purposes while using commercial space capabilities
and services to the maximum practical extent;
6. Develop, as launch agent for the Department of Defense and the
Intelligence Community, rapid launch options to reinforce or to reconstitute priority national security space capabilities in times of crisis
and conflict and that, when practicable and appropriate, leverage commercial capabilities;
7. Detect, characterize, warn, attribute, and respond to, in coordination with the Secretary of State and other relevant agencies, spacerelated behaviors and activities that threaten the space interests of the
United States, its allies, or partners, international peace and security,
or the long-term sustainability of the space environment;
8. Periodically conduct policy-driven, threat-informed, strategically-focused space posture reviews and assessments that encompass military,
diplomatic, informational, and economic aspects of posture, including
evaluation of the suitability of U.S. Government, commercial industry,
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and international space architectures to deliver effective and integrated deterrence and compellence solutions; and
9. Develop, acquire, and operate space intelligence capabilities to support joint operations.
(f) Intelligence Community.
i. The Director of National Intelligence shall:
1. Enhance foundational scientific and technical intelligence collection
and single and all-source intelligence analysis;
2. Coordinate with the Secretary of Defense to ensure necessary and
sufficient intelligence support for acquisition, operations, and defense
of space capabilities;
3. Develop, obtain, and operate space intelligence capabilities to support strategic goals, intelligence priorities, and assigned tasks;
4. Provide robust, timely, and effective collection, processing, analysis,
and dissemination of information on foreign space capabilities and
threats and supporting information system activities;
5. Integrate all-source intelligence of foreign space capabilities and intentions to produce enhanced intelligence products that support space
domain awareness;
6. Support monitoring, compliance, and verification for transparency
and confidence-building measures and, if applicable, arms control
agreements;
7. Ensure Intelligence Community equities are represented and reviewed in United States Government radio frequency deliberations;
and
8. Promote counterintelligence and security partnerships and practices
within the commercial, civil, and national security space communities.
Sec. 6. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this memorandum shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency,
or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This memorandum shall be implemented consistent with applicable
law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
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(c) This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right
or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by
any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities,
its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
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(d) The Secretary of Commerce is authorized and directed to publish
this memorandum in the Federal Register.
THE WHITE HOUSE,
Washington, December 9, 2020
[FR Doc. 2020–27892
Filed 12–15–20; 11:15 am]
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Billing code 3510–07–P
Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 242 (Wednesday, December 16, 2020)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 81755-81773]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-27892]
[[Page 81753]]
Vol. 85
Wednesday,
No. 242
December 16, 2020
Part VI
The President
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Memorandum of December 9, 2020--The National Space Policy
Memorandum of December 10, 2020--Providing an Order of Succession
Within the Office of Personnel Management
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 85 , No. 242 / Wednesday, December 16, 2020 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 81755]]
Memorandum of December 9, 2020
The National Space Policy
Memorandum for the Vice President[,] the Secretary of
State[,] the Secretary of Defense[,] the Attorney
General[,] the Secretary of the Interior[,] the
Secretary of Commerce[,] the Secretary of
Transportation[,] the Secretary of Energy[,] the
Secretary of Homeland Security[,] the Director of the
Office of Management and Budget[,] the Director of
National Intelligence[,] the Assistant to the President
for National Security Affairs[,] the Administrator of
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration[,]
the Director of the Office of Science and Technology
Policy[, and] the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Section 1. References. This directive supersedes
Presidential Policy Directive-4 (June 29, 2010) and
references, promotes, and reemphasizes the following
policy directives and memoranda:
a) Presidential Policy Directive 26--National Space
Transportation Policy (November 21, 2013)
b) Executive Order 13803--Reviving the National
Space Council (June 30, 2017)
c) Space Policy Directive 1--Reinvigorating
America's Human Space Exploration Program (December 11,
2017)
d) The National Space Strategy (March 23, 2018)
e) Space Policy Directive 2--Streamlining
Regulations on Commercial Use of Space (May 24, 2018)
f) Space Policy Directive 3--National Space Traffic
Management Policy (June 18, 2018)
g) Space Policy Directive 4--Establishment of the
United States Space Force (February 19, 2019)
h) National Security Presidential Memorandum 20--
Launch of Spacecraft Containing Space Nuclear Systems
(August 20, 2019)
i) Executive Order 13906--Amending Executive Order
13803--Reviving the National Space Council (February
13, 2020)
j) Executive Order 13905--Strengthening National
Resilience Through Responsible Use of Positioning,
Navigation, and Timing Services (February 12, 2020)
k) Executive Order 13914--Encouraging International
Support for the Recovery and Use of Space Resources
(April 6, 2020)
l) Space Policy Directive 5--Cybersecurity
Principles for Space Systems (September 4, 2020)
Sec. 2. Principles. It is the policy of the United
States to ensure that space operations are consistent
with the following principles.
1. It is the shared interest of all nations to act
responsibly in space to ensure the safety, stability,
security, and long-term sustainability of space
activities. Responsible space actors operate with
openness, transparency, and predictability to maintain
the benefits of space for all humanity.
2. A robust, innovative, and competitive commercial
space sector is the source of continued progress and
sustained United States leadership in
[[Page 81756]]
space. The United States remains committed to
encouraging and facilitating the continued growth of a
domestic commercial space sector that is globally
competitive, supports national interests, and advances
United States leadership in the generation of new
markets and innovation-driven entrepreneurship.
3. In this resurgent era of space exploration, the
United States will expand its leadership alongside
nations that share its democratic values, respect for
human rights, and economic freedom. Those values will
extend with us to all space destinations as the United
States once again steps beyond Earth, starting with the
Moon and continuing to Mars.
4. As established in international law, outer
space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies,
is not subject to national appropriation by claim of
sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any
other means. The United States will pursue the
extraction and utilization of space resources in
compliance with applicable law, recognizing those
resources as critical for sustainable exploration,
scientific discovery, and commercial operations.
5. All nations have the right to explore and to use
space for peaceful purposes and for the benefit of all
humanity, in accordance with applicable law. Consistent
with that principle, the United States will continue to
use space for national security activities, including
for the exercise of the inherent right of self-defense.
Unfettered access and freedom to operate in space is a
vital national interest.
6. The United States considers the space systems of
all nations to have the right to pass through and
conduct operations in space without interference.
Purposeful interference with space systems, including
supporting infrastructure, will be considered an
infringement of a nation's rights. Consistent with the
defense of those rights, the United States will seek to
deter, counter, and defeat threats in the space domain
that are hostile to the national interests of the
United States and its allies. Any purposeful
interference with or an attack upon the space systems
of the United States or its allies that directly
affects national rights will be met with a deliberate
response at a time, place, manner, and domain of our
choosing.
Sec. 3. Goals. The United States shall:
1. Promote and incentivize private industry to
facilitate the creation of new global and domestic
markets for United States space goods and services, and
strengthen and preserve the position of the United
States as the global partner of choice for
international space commerce.
2. Encourage and uphold the rights of nations to
use space responsibly and peacefully by developing and
implementing diplomatic, economic, and security
capabilities and strategies to identify and respond to
behaviors that threaten those rights.
3. Lead, encourage, and expand international
cooperation on mutually beneficial space activities
that broaden and extend the benefits of space for all
humanity; further the exploration and use of space for
peaceful purposes; protect the interests of the United
States, its allies, and partners; advance United States
interests and values; and enhance access to space-
derived information and services.
4. Create a safe, stable, secure, and sustainable
environment for space activities, in collaboration with
industry and international partners, through the
development and promotion of responsible behaviors;
improved practices for the collection and sharing of
information on space objects; protection of critical
space systems and supporting infrastructures, with
special attention to cybersecurity and supply chains;
and measures to mitigate orbital debris.
5. Increase the assurance of national critical
functions enabled by commercial, civil, scientific, and
national security spacecraft and supporting
infrastructure against disruption, degradation, and
destruction through the development and fielding of
materiel and non-materiel capabilities and rehearsal of
continuity of operations practices.
[[Page 81757]]
6. Extend human economic activity into deep space
by establishing a permanent human presence on the Moon,
and, in cooperation with private industry and
international partners, develop infrastructure and
services that will enable science-driven exploration,
space resource utilization, and human missions to Mars.
7. Increase the quality of life for all humanity
through the cultivation, maturation, and development of
space-enabled scientific and economic capabilities,
including space and Earth resource discovery,
management, and utilization; space and Earth weather
and environmental monitoring and prediction; disaster
monitoring, prediction, response, and recovery; and
planetary defense.
8. Preserve and expand United States leadership in
the development of innovative space technologies,
services, and operations. Work with likeminded
international and private partners, to prevent the
transfer of sensitive space capabilities to those who
threaten the interests of the United States, its
allies, and its supporting industrial base.
Sec. 4. Cross-sector Space Policy Guidelines. The heads
of all executive departments and agencies (agencies),
consistent with their respective missions and
authorities, shall execute the guidance provided in
this section consistent with applicable law.
Heads of agencies with representation on the National
Space Council shall designate a senior official with
responsibility for overseeing their respective agency's
implementation of the National Space Policy. This
official shall periodically report to the National
Space Council on the progress of implementation of this
policy within respective agencies.
1. Foundational Activities and Capabilities.
Foundational activities and capabilities enable the
United States to fulfill the principles and goals
directed in this policy.
(a) Strengthen United States Leadership in Space-related Science and
Technology. Heads of agencies shall:
i. Reinforce United States technological leadership by promoting
technology development; improved industrial capacity; a robust supplier
base; and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)
education opportunities necessary to support United States leadership in
space innovation;
ii. Conduct basic and applied research that increases space capabilities
and decreases costs, if such research is best supported by the Government;
and
iii. Encourage commercial space innovation and entrepreneurship through
targeted investment in promising technologies that improve the Nation's
leadership in space operations.
(b) Strengthen and Secure the United States Space Industrial Base. To
further foster the security and resilience of the domestic space industrial
base, heads of agencies, to the maximum extent practicable and consistent
with applicable law, shall:
i. Promote the availability of space-related industrial capabilities in
support of national critical functions;
ii. Identify suppliers and manufacturers key to the United States space-
related science, technology, and industrial bases and incentivizing them to
remain in, or return to, the United States;
iii. Support innovative entrepreneurial space companies through
appropriate deregulatory actions;
iv. Strengthen the security, integrity, and reliability of the supply
chains of United States space-related science, technology, and industrial
bases by identifying and eliminating dependence on suppliers owned by,
controlled by, or subject to the jurisdiction or direction of foreign
adversaries,
[[Page 81758]]
and engaging with United States and international industrial partners to
improve processes and effectively manage and secure supply chains; and
v. Incorporate cybersecurity principles across all phases of space
systems design, development, acquisition, and deployment.
(c) Enhance Capabilities for Assured Access to Space. United States access
to space depends in the first instance on assured launch capabilities. To
the extent consistent with applicable law, United States Government
payloads shall be launched on vehicles manufactured in the United States,
unless approved for foreign launch in support of:
i. No-exchange-of-funds agreements involving international scientific
programs, launches of scientific instruments on international spacecraft,
or other cooperative government-to-government agreements;
ii. Launches of secondary-technology demonstrators or scientific payloads
for which no United States launch service is available;
iii. Hosted payload arrangements on spacecraft not owned by the United
States Government; or
iv. Other circumstances on a case-by-case exemption as coordinated by the
Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and the Director
of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, consistent with established
interagency standards and coordination guidelines.
v. To the maximum extent practicable and consistent with their
responsibilities and applicable law, the heads of agencies shall:
1. Work collaboratively to acquire space launch services and hosted
Government payload arrangements that are secure, reliable, cost-effective,
and responsive to United States Government needs;
2. Enhance operational efficiency, increase capacity, and reduce launch
costs by investing in the modernization of space launch infrastructure;
3. Permit the launch of United States Government spacecraft manufactured in
the United States from territories of allied and likeminded nations when
launched on vehicles manufactured in the United States; and
4. When sufficient United States commercial capabilities and services do
not exist, support industry-led efforts to rapidly develop new and
modernized launch systems and technologies necessary to assure and to
sustain future reliable, resilient, and efficient access to space.
(d) Safeguard Space Components of Critical Infrastructure. The space domain
is important to the function of critical infrastructure vital to the
security, economy, resilience, public health, and safety of the United
States. Multiple infrastructure sectors depend on reliable access to space-
based systems to perform their functions.
i. The United States will develop strategies, capabilities, and options
to respond to any purposeful interference with or attack on the space
systems of the United States or its allies that directly affects national
rights, especially those necessary for the operation of the Nation's
critical infrastructure. Such strategies, capabilities, and options will
allow for a deliberate response at a time, place, manner, and domain of its
choosing.
ii. The Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the
Director of National Intelligence, in consultation with other heads of
agencies, as appropriate, shall develop and maintain focused threat and
risk assessments on the effect of deleterious actions in the space domain
to the Nation's critical infrastructure.
(e) Maintain and Enhance Space-based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing
(PNT) Systems. The United States must maintain its leadership in the
service, provision, and responsible use of global navigation satellite
systems (GNSS). To that end, the United States shall:
[[Page 81759]]
i. Provide continuous worldwide access, for peaceful civil uses, to the
Global Positioning System (GPS) and its Government-provided augmentations,
free of direct user fees;
ii. Engage with international GNSS providers to ensure compatibility,
encourage interoperability with likeminded nations, promote transparency in
civil service provision, and enable market access for United States
industry;
iii. Operate and maintain the GPS constellation to satisfy civil and
national security needs, consistent with published performance standards
and interface specifications;
iv. Improve the cybersecurity of GPS, its augmentations, and federally
owned GPS-enabled devices, and foster commercial space sector adoption of
cyber-secure GPS enabled systems consistent with cybersecurity principles
for space systems;
v. Allow for the continued use of allied and other trusted international
PNT services in conjunction with GPS in a manner that ensures the
resilience of PNT services and is consistent with applicable law;
vi. Invest in domestic capabilities and support international activities
to detect, analyze, mitigate, and increase resilience to harmful
interference to GNSS;
vii. Identify and promote, as appropriate, multiple and diverse
complementary PNT systems or approaches for critical infrastructure and
mission-essential functions; and
viii. Promote the responsible use of United States space-based PNT
services and capabilities in civil and commercial sectors at the Federal,
State, and local levels, including the utilization of multiple and diverse
complementary PNT systems or approaches for national critical functions.
(f) Develop and Retain Space Professionals. The primary goals of space
professional development are to achieve mission success in space operations
and acquisition; stimulate innovation to improve commercial, civil, and
national security space capabilities; and advance science, exploration, and
discovery. Toward these ends, the heads of agencies, in cooperation with
industry and academia, as appropriate, shall:
i. Establish standards for accession and career progression;
ii. Seek to create educational and professional development opportunities
for the current space workforce, including internships and fellowships, and
to implement measures to recruit, develop, maintain, and retain skilled
space professionals, including engineering and scientific personnel and
experienced space system developers and operators, across Government and
commercial sectors;
iii. Promote and expand public-private partnerships within space and
technology industries to foster transdisciplinary educational achievement
in STEM programs, supported by targeted investments in such initiatives;
iv. Promote the exchange of scientists, engineers, and technologists
among Federal laboratories, universities, and the commercial space sector
to facilitate the exchange of diverse ideas and to build capacity in space
technical knowledge and skills;
v. Develop the means to recruit and to employ qualified and skilled space
professionals from likeminded nations to increase United States leadership
in space commerce, science, exploration, and security; and
vi. Support training and education in key enabling scientific and
engineering disciplines, including: artificial intelligence and machine
learning, autonomy, orbital mechanics, collision avoidance methods,
robotics, computer science and engineering, digital design and engineering,
electromagnetics, materials science, hypersonics, geoscience, quantum-
related technologies and applications, and cybersecurity.
[[Page 81760]]
(g) Improve Space System Development and Procurement. The heads of agencies
shall:
i. Improve timely acquisition and deployment of space systems through
enhancements in estimating costs, assessing technological risk and
maturity, and leveraging and understanding emerging industrial base
capabilities and capacity;
ii. Reduce programmatic risk through improved management of program
requirements, reduce the use of cost-plus contracts, where appropriate, and
take advantage of cost-effective opportunities to test high-risk
components, payloads, and technologies in digital, space, or other relevant
environments;
iii. Create opportunities to strengthen and to develop pertinent
expertise in the Government workforce through internships and fellowships
with the commercial space sector;
iv. Pursue and endorse cooperative research and development agreements;
v. Incorporate rapid prototyping, experimentation, and other efforts to
accelerate development cycles to improve performance and to reduce costs;
vi. Embrace innovation to cultivate and to sustain an entrepreneurial
United States research and development environment;
vii. Engage with the industrial base to improve processes and effectively
manage and secure supply chains; and
viii. Promote, where consistent with applicable rules and regulations
concerning Government contracting, procurement of critical materials and
sub-tier components, such as solar cells and microelectronics, from
domestic and other trusted sources of supply.
(h) Strengthen Interagency and Commercial Partnerships. As facilitated by
the Executive Secretary of the National Space Council, the heads of
agencies shall, consistent with applicable law:
i. Strengthen existing partnerships and pursue new partnerships among
interagency members, the United States commercial space and related
sectors, and United States academic institutions through cooperation,
collaboration, information sharing, innovative procurements, and alignment
of common pursuits to achieve United States goals;
ii. Encourage the sharing of capabilities and the exchange of expertise
among agencies and, to the maximum extent practicable, with the United
States commercial sectors to strengthen the Nation's ability to pursue its
strategic goals;
iii. Develop implementation and response strategies and leverage United
States capabilities to increase technology innovation and achieve desired
outcomes involving space operations relating to science, public safety,
national security, and economic growth.
2. International Cooperation.
(a) Strengthen United States Leadership in Space. The heads of agencies, in
collaboration with the Secretary of State, shall:
i. Demonstrate United States leadership in space-related fora and
activities to strengthen deterrence and assure allies and partners of its
commitment to preserving the safety, stability, security, and long-term
sustainability of space activities;
ii. Identify areas of mutual interest and benefit, such as collective
self-defense and the promotion of secure and resilient space-related
infrastructure;
iii. Lead the enhancement of safety, stability, security, and long-term
sustainability in space by promoting a framework for responsible behavior
in outer space, including the pursuit and effective implementation of best
practices, standards, and norms of behavior;
[[Page 81761]]
iv. Encourage other nations to adopt United States space regulatory
approaches and commercial space sector practices;
v. Encourage interoperability among United States, allied, and partner
space systems, services, and data;
vi. Facilitate new market opportunities for United States commercial
space capabilities and services, including commercial applications that
rely on United States Government-provided space systems;
vii. Promote the adoption of policies and practices internationally that
facilitate full, open, and timely access to Government space-derived
environmental data on a reciprocal basis;
viii. Promote appropriate burden-, cost-, and risk-sharing among
international partners; and
ix. Augment United States capabilities by leveraging existing and planned
space capabilities of allies and partners.
(b) Identify and Expand Areas for International Cooperation. The heads of
agencies shall identify potential areas for international cooperation
across the spectrum of commercial, civil, and national security space
activities that increase the understanding of Earth and space sciences,
expand the detection of hazardous near-Earth objects, ensure the freedom of
operation in and through space, increase the quality and safety of life on
Earth, extend human presence and economic activity beyond low Earth orbit,
and reduce the cost of achieving the Nation's goals.
i. The Secretary of State, in coordination with the heads of agencies,
shall:
1. Carry out diplomatic and public diplomacy efforts to strengthen the
understanding of, and support for, United States national space policies
and programs and to promote the international use of United States space
capabilities, systems, and services;
2. Encourage international support for the recovery and use of outer space
resources;
3. Lead the consideration of proposals and concepts for arms control
measures if they are equitable, effectively verifiable, and enhance the
national security of the United States and its allies;
4. Pursue bilateral and multilateral transparency and confidence-building
measures to encourage responsible actions in, and the peaceful use of,
outer space to strengthen the safety, stability, security, and long-term
sustainability of space activities, to increase predictability and reduce
the risk of misunderstanding and inadvertent conflict escalation; and
5. Cooperate with likeminded international partners to establish standards
of safe and responsible behavior, including openness, transparency, and
predictability, to facilitate the detection, identification, and
attribution of actions in space that are inconsistent with the safety,
stability, security, and long-term sustainability of space activities.
ii. The Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, in
coordination with the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA), the Secretary of Commerce, and the heads of other
agencies as appropriate, shall lead the development of national and
international planetary protection guidelines, working with scientific,
commercial, and international partners, for the appropriate protection of
planetary bodies and Earth from harmful biological contamination.
3. Preserving the Space Environment to Enhance the
Long-term Sustainability of Space Activities.
(a) Preserve the Space Environment. To preserve the space environment for
responsible, peaceful, and safe use, and with a focus on minimizing space
debris the United States shall:
i. Continue leading the development and adoption of international and
industry standards and policies, such as the Guidelines for the Long-
[[Page 81762]]
term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities and the Space Debris
Mitigation Guidelines of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses
of Outer Space;
ii. Continue to make available basic space situational awareness (SSA)
data, and provide for basic space traffic coordination (including
conjunction and reentry notifications), free of direct user fees while
supporting new opportunities for United States commercial and non-profit
products and services;
iii. Develop, maintain, and use SSA information from commercial, civil,
and national security sources in an open architecture data repository to
detect, identify, and attribute actions in space that are inconsistent with
the safety, stability, security, and the long-term sustainability of space
activities;
iv. Develop and maintain space flight safety standards and best practices
to coordinate space traffic;
v. Ensure that, consistent with international obligations, timely and
accurate information concerning United States space objects launched into
Earth orbit or beyond is entered into the United States domestic space
object registry maintained by the Secretary of State and internationally
registered with the United Nations as soon as practicable;
vi. Limit the creation of new debris, consistent with mission
requirements and cost effectiveness, during the procurement and operation
of spacecraft, launch services, and conduct of tests and experiments in
space by following and periodically updating the United States Government
Orbital Debris Mitigation Standard Practices;
vii. Regularly assess existing guidelines for non-government activities
in or beyond Earth orbit, and maintain a timely and responsive regulatory
environment for licensing those activities, consistent with United States
law and international obligations;
viii. Pursue research and development of technologies and techniques to
characterize and to mitigate risks from orbital debris, reduce hazards, and
increase understanding of the current and future debris environment;
ix. Evaluate and pursue, in coordination with allies and partners, active
debris removal as a potential long-term approach to ensure the safety of
flight in key orbital regimes;
x. Require approval of exceptions to the United States Government Orbital
Debris Mitigation Standard Practices from the head of the sponsoring agency
and notification to the Secretary of State; and
xi. Continue to foster the development of best practices to prevent on-
orbit collisions by collaborating with the commercial space sector and
likeminded nations to: maintain and improve space object databases; pursue
common international data standards and integrity measures; provide
services and disseminate orbital tracking information, including
predictions of space-object conjunctions, to commercial and international
entities; and expand SSA to deep space.
(b) Effective Export Policies.
i. The United States will work to stem the flow of advanced space
technology to unauthorized parties while ensuring the competitiveness of
the United States space industrial base. The heads of agencies are
responsible for protecting against adverse technology transfer in the
conduct of their programs.
ii. The United States Government shall:
1. Consider letters of request and the issuance of licenses for space-
related exports on a case-by-case basis, pursuant to, and in accordance
with, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), the
Conventional Arms Transfer Policy, the Export Administration Regulations,
and other applicable laws and commitments;
[[Page 81763]]
2. Encourage the export of space-related items when doing so would not
threaten the national interest;
3. Make eligible for streamlined authorization the export of space-related
items that are generally available in the global marketplace, do not
provide critical military functions, and are destined for certain allied or
partner countries.
iii. Consistent with the foregoing, and consistent with existing law and
regulation, license applications for exports of space-related items will be
subject to a presumption of denial when destined for arms-embargoed
destinations or other embargoed destinations.
iv. Sensitive or advanced spacecraft-related exports may require
government-to-government transfers through the Foreign Military Sales
process. The Secretary of State shall determine whether current arms
transfer and nonproliferation policy directives provide sufficient guidance
for the transfer of emerging technologies and space capabilities.
(c) Space Nuclear Power and Propulsion.
i. The United States will develop and use space nuclear power and
propulsion (SNPP) systems where such systems enable achievement of United
States scientific, national security, and commercial objectives. The United
States will adhere to principles of safety, stability, security, and long-
term sustainability in its development and utilization of space nuclear
systems. In accordance with the National Security Policy Memorandum-20
Presidential Memorandum on Launch of Spacecraft Containing Space Nuclear
Systems (August 20, 2019), authorization for launches of spacecraft
containing space nuclear systems shall follow a tiered process based on the
characteristics of the system, level of potential hazard, and national
security considerations.
ii. The Administrator of NASA and the Secretary of Defense shall conduct
and support design, development, and utilization of space nuclear systems,
as appropriate, to enable and achieve their respective mission objectives.
iii. The Secretary of Energy shall support the design, development, and
utilization of SNPP systems to enable and achieve the scientific,
exploration, and national security objectives of the United States, in
coordination with sponsoring agencies and other entities, as appropriate.
The Secretary of Energy shall maintain, on a full cost recovery basis, the
capability and infrastructure to develop, furnish, and conduct safety
analyses for space nuclear systems for use in United States Government
space systems.
iv. The Secretary of Energy, in cooperation with the Secretary of
Homeland Security and the heads of appropriate agencies, shall provide
technical and operational support to the launch of SNPP systems to prepare
for and respond to any potential radiological impacts of a launch to ensure
the protection of public health and safety.
v. The Secretary of Commerce, in coordination with other appropriate
agencies, shall promote responsible United States commercial space nuclear
system investment, innovation, and operations.
vi. The Secretary of Transportation shall, in consultation with other
applicable agencies, serve as the licensing authority for commercial
launches of space nuclear systems.
(d) Protection of Electromagnetic Spectrum. In matters pertaining to the
electromagnetic spectrum the United States shall:
i. Seek to protect access to, and operation in, the electromagnetic
spectrum and related orbital assignments required to support the use of
space by the United States Government, its allies, and partners, and United
States commercial users;
ii. Preserve and protect the electromagnetic spectrum required to sustain
existing and emergent space-based capabilities, including communications,
navigation, and Earth observation;
[[Page 81764]]
iii. Explicitly address requirements for electromagnetic spectrum and
orbital assignments prior to approving acquisition of space capabilities;
iv. Coordinate stable and predictable national and international
regulatory frameworks to enable and support the competitiveness of space
services and systems licensed by the United States;
v. Seek to remove or to streamline regulatory impediments that may
discourage commercial space communications providers from obtaining
licenses from the United States;
vi. Conduct and publish thorough operational, technical, and policy
impact assessments, in coordination with Government space system operators,
prior to reallocating spectrum for commercial, Government, or shared use;
vii. Enhance capabilities and techniques, in cooperation with commercial,
civil, and international partners, to detect, identify, locate, and
attribute sources of radio frequency interference, and to take necessary
measures to sustain the electromagnetic environment in which critical
United States space systems operate;
viii. Seek appropriate regulatory approval under United States domestic
regulations for United States Government Earth stations operating with
commercially owned satellites, consistent with the regulatory approvals
granted to analogous commercial Earth stations; and
ix. Prioritize research and development of advanced technologies,
innovative spectrum-utilization methods, and spectrum-sharing tools and
techniques that increase spectrum access, efficiency, and effectiveness.
(e) Cybersecurity for United States Space Systems. In matters relating to
cybersecurity for space systems the United States Government shall:
i. Seek to ensure space systems and their supporting infrastructure,
including software, are designed, developed, and operated using risk-based,
cybersecurity-informed engineering;
ii. Collaborate with industry and encourage development and integration
of cybersecurity plans for space systems that mitigate unauthorized access
to critical space system functions, reduce vulnerabilities, protect ground
systems, promote cybersecurity hygiene practices, and manage supply chain
risks;
iii. Collaborate with interagency, allied, partner, and commercial space
system operators to promote the development and adoption of best practices
and mitigations;
iv. Leverage widely adopted best practices and standards in the creation
of rules and regulations, as appropriate; and
v. Determine appropriate cybersecurity measures for Government space
systems through a mission risk assessment specific to a space system's
design and operations.
(f) Assurance of National Critical Functions. The United States Government,
in cooperation with private and public sectors, shall:
i. Assure space-enabled national critical functions by developing the
techniques, measures, relationships, and capabilities necessary to maintain
continuity of services;
ii. Pursue efforts to enhance the protection, cybersecurity, and
resilience of selected spacecraft and supporting infrastructure;
iii. Periodically conduct operationally-focused exercises to test the
continuity of national critical functions and Federal mission assurance in
a degraded or denied space environment due to natural or manmade
disruptions;
iv. Incorporate the simulated disruption of space systems into
interagency and national exercises; and
[[Page 81765]]
v. Address mission assurance and architectural resilience through the
design, acquisition, command and control, exercise, and operation of
materiel and non-materiel space and non-space capabilities.
Sec. 5. Sector Guidelines. The United States conducts
space activities in three distinct but interdependent
sectors: commercial, civil, and national security.
Consistent with all applicable legal obligations
agencies shall comply with the following guidance.
1. Commercial Space Guidelines.
The term ``commercial,'' for the purposes of this
policy, refers to goods, services, or activities
provided by private sector enterprises that bear a
reasonable portion of the investment risk and
responsibility for the activity, operate in accordance
with typical market-based incentives for controlling
cost and optimizing return on investment, and have the
legal capacity to offer those goods or services to
existing or potential non-governmental customers.
A United States commercial space sector that leads
in the global space marketplace is foundational to
national strategic objectives that include increased
and sustained prosperity, free market principles,
enhanced international partnerships and collaboration,
technological innovation, and scientific discovery, and
is vital to United States and allied security.
(a) Promoting a Robust Commercial Space Industry. To promote a robust
domestic commercial space industry and strengthen United States leadership
as the country of choice for conducting commercial space activities, the
heads of agencies shall:
i. Purchase and use United States commercial space capabilities and
services, to the maximum practical extent under existing law, when such
capabilities and services meet United States Government requirements;
ii. Prioritize partnerships with commercial industry to meet Government
requirements through the modification of existing commercial space
capabilities and services when potential system modifications represent a
cost-effective and timely acquisition approach for the Government and are
consistent with system and mission-security practices and principles;
iii. Consider inventive, nontraditional arrangements for acquiring
commercial space goods and services to meet United States Government
requirements, including measures such as hosting Government capabilities on
commercial spacecraft, purchasing scientific or operational data from
commercial satellite operators in support of Government missions,
leveraging satellite servicing or on-orbit manufacturing, and public-
private partnerships;
iv. Develop Government space systems only when in the national interest
and no suitable or cost-effective United States commercial or, as
appropriate, international commercial capability or service is available or
could be available in time to meet Government requirements;
v. Refrain from conducting United States Government space activities that
preclude, discourage, or compete with United States commercial space
activities, unless required by national security or public safety;
vi. Pursue opportunities for transferring routine operational space
functions to the commercial space sector where beneficial and cost-
effective and consistent with legal, security, or safety needs;
vii. Cultivate increased technological innovation and entrepreneurship
and provide alternatives to predatory foreign investment in the commercial
space sector through the use of incentives such as prizes, competitions,
and competitive grants;
viii. Ensure that United States Government space technology and
infrastructure are made available for commercial use on a reimbursable,
non-interference and equitable basis to the maximum practical extent,
consistent with applicable laws and national security interests;
[[Page 81766]]
ix. Promote continued commercial United States leadership in space by
making available, consistent with applicable laws and national security,
commercially relevant technologies developed by Federal research and
development programs to United States industry;
x. Create transparent regulatory processes that minimize, consistent with
national security and public safety, the regulatory burden and uncertainty
for commercial space activities and that are flexible so as to accommodate
and to adapt to technical development, business innovation, and market
demands;
xi. Encourage State and local governments to support the commercial space
sector for the purposes of cultivating a technically skilled work force,
diversifying innovation potential, and stimulating economic growth;
xii. Foster fair and open global trade and commerce through the promotion
of standards and regulations that have been developed with input from
United States industry;
xiii. Encourage the purchase and use of United States commercial space
services and capabilities in international cooperative arrangements;
xiv. Encourage the growth of United States commercial human space
exploration, including logistical provisioning, delivery, and the continued
commercialization of operations in and beyond low Earth orbit, and the use
of microgravity as a domain for research and development; and
xv. Promote the export of United States commercial space goods and
services, including those developed by small and medium-sized enterprises,
for use in international markets, consistent with United States export
controls and national security objectives.
(b) International Trade Agreements. The United States Trade Representative
(USTR) has the primary responsibility for international trade agreements to
which the United States is a party. USTR, in consultation with other
relevant heads of agencies, will lead any effort relating to the
negotiation and implementation of trade disciplines governing trade in
goods and services related to space.
(c) Mission Authorization of Novel Activities. The Secretary of Commerce,
in coordination with the National Space Council, shall:
i. Identify whether any planned space activities fall beyond the scope of
existing authorization and supervision processes necessary to meet
international obligations; and
ii. Lead, if necessary, the development of minimally burdensome,
responsive, transparent, and adaptive review, authorization, and
supervision processes for such activities, consistent with national
security and public safety interests, with a presumption of approval and
prompt appeals process.
(d) Foster the Development of Space Collision Warning Measures. The
Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the Secretaries of State,
Defense, and Transportation, the Administrator of NASA, and the heads of
other agencies, shall collaborate, consistent with applicable law, with
industry and foreign nations to:
i. Maintain and improve space object identification databases;
ii. Pursue common international data standards and data integrity
measures;
iii. Disseminate orbital tracking information to commercial and
international entities, including predictions of space object conjunctions;
iv. Enhance the common understanding of resident space objects;
v. Develop and implement standard practices for conjunction assessment
operations to ensure the safety of flight of all space operations, across
all orbital regimes; and
[[Page 81767]]
vi. Develop common commercial operating guidelines and propose licensing
requirements, consistent with respective agency mission and authorities,
for large constellations, rendezvous and proximity operations, satellite
servicing, small satellites, end-of-mission planning, and other classes of
space operations.
2. Civil Space Guidelines.
(a) Space Science, Exploration, and Discovery. The United States shall lead
an innovative and sustainable program of scientific discovery, technology
development, and space exploration with commercial and international
partners to enable human expansion across the solar system and to bring
back to Earth new knowledge and opportunities. Beginning with missions
beyond low Earth orbit, the United States will lead the return of humans to
the Moon for long-term exploration and utilization, followed by human
missions to Mars and other destinations.
(b) The Administrator of NASA, in collaboration with other appropriate
agencies, Federal laboratories, and commercial partners, shall, consistent
with applicable law:
i. Lead a program to land the next American man and the first American
woman on the Moon by 2024, followed by a sustained presence on the Moon by
2028, and the subsequent landing of the first human on Mars;
ii. Continue the operation of the International Space Station (ISS) in
cooperation with international partners for scientific, technological,
commercial, diplomatic, and educational purposes while developing separate
commercial platforms to sustain continuous United States presence in and
utilization of low Earth orbit and to transition beyond ISS operations;
iii. Develop partnerships to foster new economic activities in and beyond
low Earth orbit that enable NASA and other customers to purchase services
and capabilities at lower cost;
iv. In consultation with international and commercial partners as
appropriate, support activities that include the presence of humans in
space; maintain continuous human presence in Earth orbit by transitioning
from ISS to commercial platforms and services; and continue to support
future objectives in human space exploration;
v. Continue as the launch agent for the civil space sector while
utilizing commercial space capabilities and services to the maximum
practical extent;
vi. Continue to grow partnerships with the commercial space sector to
enable safe, reliable, and cost-effective transport of crew and cargo to
destinations in low Earth and cislunar orbits, and to the lunar surface;
vii. Lead space exploration technology development efforts in
collaboration with industry, academia, and international partners to
increase capabilities for future human and robotic space exploration
missions while decreasing mission costs;
viii. Maintain a sustained robotic presence in the solar system with
international and commercial partners to: prepare for future human
missions; conduct scientific investigations; map and characterize water,
mineral, and elemental resources; and demonstrate new technologies;
ix. Conduct space science for observations, research, and analysis of the
Sun, space weather, the solar system, and the universe to enhance knowledge
of the cosmos, advance scientific understanding, understand the conditions
that may support the development of life, and search for planetary bodies
and Earth-like planets in orbit around other stars;
x. Pursue capabilities, in cooperation with other agencies, commercial,
and international partners, to detect, track, catalog, and characterize
near Earth objects to warn of any predicted Earth impact and to identify
potentially resource-rich planetary objects; and
[[Page 81768]]
xi. Develop options, in collaboration with other agencies, and
international partners, for planetary defense actions both on Earth and in
space to mitigate the potential effects of a predicted near Earth object
impact or trajectory.
(c) Observation of the Earth's Surface, Environment, and Weather. To
continue and to enhance a broad array of programs of space-based
observation, research, and analysis of the Earth's surface, oceans, and
atmosphere and their interactions, and to improve life on Earth:
i. The Administrator of NASA, in coordination with the heads of other
appropriate agencies, shall conduct a program of research to understand
Earth's interconnected systems, including the development of new Earth
observing satellites for other agencies to use for operational purposes.
ii. The Secretary of Commerce, through the Administrator of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), shall be responsible for the
requirements, funding, and operation of civil environmental satellites and
data-gathering in support of atmospheric and space weather forecasting.
NOAA may utilize NASA as the acquisition agent for operational
environmental satellites for those activities and programs.
iii. The Secretary of Commerce, through the Administrator of NOAA, and
the Secretary of Defense, through the Secretary of the Air Force, in
coordination with the Administrator of NASA and the heads of other
appropriate agencies, shall:
1. Continue existing coverage responsibilities;
2. Develop a plan to provide Earth environmental satellite observation
capabilities, including ground systems for operations, that meet current
and future civil and national security requirements; and
3. Ensure the continued sharing of data from all systems.
iv. In support of operational requirements the Secretary of Commerce, in
coordination with the Secretary of Defense, the Administrator of NASA, and
the heads of other appropriate agencies, shall:
1. Collaborate with academia, the commercial sector, and international
partners to ensure uninterrupted operational environmental satellite
observations using cost-effective, resilient methods to acquire global
meteorological satellite data;
2. Coordinate, as practicable, on future satellite and ground system
architectures to reduce duplication of space acquisition processes and
capabilities;
3. Utilize international partnerships to sustain and enhance a robust Earth
observations program that meets civil and national security requirements,
including weather, climate, ocean, and coastal observations; and
4. Purchase commercial environmental data for use in meteorological and
space weather models when appropriate.
v. The Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, in
consultation with the Assistant to the President for National Security
Affairs, shall coordinate the implementation of the National Space Weather
Strategy and Action Plan. The goals of this strategy are to: enhance the
protection of Government and commercial systems against the effects of
space weather; disseminate accurate and timely space weather
characterization and forecasts; and establish plans and procedures for
responding to and recovering from space weather events. Agencies
contributing to the United States Government Earth science enterprise shall
pursue innovative partnerships with the commercial sector to make their
agency's Earth observation data more easily discoverable, accessible, and
usable to the public.
(d) Land Remote Sensing.
i. The Secretary of the Interior, through the Director of the United
States Geological Survey (USGS), shall:
[[Page 81769]]
1. Conduct integrated predictive science, which includes research,
monitoring, assessments, and modeling, on natural and human-induced changes
to Earth's land, land cover, and inland surface waters, and manage a
national global land surface data archive and its distribution;
2. Determine the operational requirements for collecting, processing,
archiving, and distributing land surface data to the United States
Government and other users;
3. Use international and commercial partnerships to help sustain and
enhance land surface observations from space; and
4. Utilize, consistent with national security classification guidelines and
sharing agreements and in coordination with the Secretary of Defense and
the Director of National Intelligence, remote sensing information related
to the environment and to disasters that is acquired from national security
space systems.
ii. The Secretary of the Interior, through the Director of the USGS, and
the Administrator of NASA shall work together to maintain a sustainable
land-imaging program for operational land remote sensing observations that
meets the needs of core United States users and leverages government,
commercial, and international capabilities.
iii. The Administrators of NASA and NOAA, and the Director of the USGS
shall:
1. Collaborate, as practicable, on future satellite and ground system
architectures to ensure that civil space acquisition processes and
capabilities are not unnecessarily duplicated; and
2. Continue to develop civil applications and information tools based on
data collected by Earth observation satellites. They shall, to the maximum
extent practicable, develop those applications and tools using known
standards and open protocols and make data and applications from United
States Government satellites openly available to the public.
i. The Secretary of Commerce shall license and regulate private remote
sensing systems consistent with the recognition that long-term United
States national security and foreign policy interests are best served by
ensuring that United States industry continues to lead the rapidly maturing
and highly competitive commercial space-based remote sensing market. The
Secretary of Commerce shall consult with the Secretary of State and
Secretary of Defense in these matters in accordance with applicable law.
3. National Security Space Guidelines.
(a) The United States seeks a secure, stable, and accessible space domain,
which has become a warfighting domain as a result of competitors seeking to
challenge United States and allied interests in space.
(b) Strength and security in space contribute to United States and
international security and stability. It is imperative that the United
States adapt its national security organizations, policies, strategies,
doctrine, security classification frameworks, and capabilities to deter
hostilities, demonstrate responsible behaviors, and, if necessary, defeat
aggression and protect United States interests in space through:
i. Robust space domain awareness of all activities in space with the
ability to characterize and attribute potentially threatening behavior;
ii. Communicating to competitors which space activities the United States
considers undesirable or irresponsible, while promoting, demonstrating, and
communicating responsible norms of behavior;
iii. Assured, credible, and demonstrable responses to defend vital
national interests in space;
iv. Resilient space-enabled missions that reduce the impact or deny the
effectiveness of adversaries' actions; and
[[Page 81770]]
v. Synchronized diplomatic, information, military, and economic
strategies that:
1. Deter adversaries and other actors from conducting activities that may
threaten the peaceful use of space by the United States, its allies, and
partners; and
2. Compel and impose costs on adversaries to cease behaviors that threaten
the peaceful use of space by the United States, its allies, and partners.
(c) The United States Space Force will pursue these objectives as the
primary branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for
organizing, training, and equipping forces capable of projecting power in,
from, and to space to defend United States national interests; protecting
the freedom of operation in, from, and to the space domain; and enhancing
the lethality and effectiveness of the Joint Force. The United States Space
Force, and other branches of the Armed Forces as appropriate, will also
present forces to the United States Space Command, and to the other
Combatant Commands as appropriate, to deliver combat and combat support
capabilities necessary to enable prompt and sustained offensive and
defensive space operations, and to provide space support to joint
operations in all domains.
(d) Synchronized National Security Space.
i. The space domain is a priority intelligence and military operational
domain for the United States. The United States Intelligence Community and
Department of Defense use space capabilities to provide strategic,
operational, and tactical intelligence and decisive military advantages to
the Nation.
ii. The Secretary of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence,
in consultation with the heads of other appropriate agencies, Federal
laboratories, and, as appropriate, in partnership with United States
industry, shall:
1. Develop, acquire, and operate space systems and supporting information
systems and networks to aid United States national security interests and
to enable defense and intelligence operations;
2. Procure resilient space capabilities and services to provide defense and
intelligence operations during times of competition and armed conflict;
3. Develop and apply advanced technologies, capabilities, and concepts that
anticipate and rapidly respond to changes in the threat environment and
improve the timeliness and quality of intelligence and data to support
operations;
4. Identify and characterize current and future threats to United States
space missions for the purposes of enabling effective deterrence and
defense;
5. Develop resilient, cost-effective architectures and accelerate
acquisition and fielding of space capabilities with sufficient capacity to
increase the resilience of space-enabled missions and to expand the ability
to field or to rapidly reconstitute space capabilities based on the
strategic environment;
6. Develop, implement, and exercise plans, procedures, techniques, and
capabilities necessary to assure critical national security space-enabled
missions;
7. Protect and defend United States national security space assets through
integration and synchronization of operational command and control
capabilities and activities that foster seamless execution between the
Intelligence Community and Department of Defense;
8. Promote, in collaboration with the Secretary of State, norms of behavior
for responsible national security space activities that protect United
States, allied, and partner interests in space;
9. Ensure cost-effective resilience of space capabilities and assurance of
space-enabled missions, including supporting information systems and
networks, commensurate with their planned use and taking into
[[Page 81771]]
account the value these systems provide in countering or mitigating
threats, the consequences of their loss or degradation, and the
availability of other means to perform the mission;
10. Expand and increase emphasis on disruptive and emerging commercial
space capabilities and provide assessments to United States and allied
leadership on the effects of these capabilities on national security;
11. Integrate cybersecurity into space operations and capabilities to
retain positive control of space systems and verify the integrity of
critical functions, missions, and services they provide;
12. Improve, develop, integrate, demonstrate, and proliferate in
cooperation with relevant interagency, international, intergovernmental,
and commercial entities, space domain awareness capabilities to predict,
detect, warn, characterize, and attribute human-caused and naturally
occurring activities that pose threats to space systems of United States
interest;
13. Provide to the Department of Commerce and other agencies, as necessary,
SSA information that supports national security, civil, and human space
flight activities, planetary defense from hazardous near-Earth objects, and
commercial and allied space operations;
14. Collaborate with allies and partners actively engaging in space
security and intelligence operations to incentivize and institute
mechanisms for the exchange of relevant space, and space-related
information; and
15. Collaborate with the Secretaries of Commerce and Energy, the
Administrator of NASA, and the heads of other relevant agencies to
periodically review the health and competitiveness of the United States
space industrial base to determine whether the domestic space industry can
meet the technical requirements, production, and service of national
security space programs.
(e) Department of Defense.
i. The Secretary of Defense shall:
1. Defend the use of space for United States national security purposes,
the United States economy, allies, and partners;
2. Protect freedom of navigation and preserve lines of communication that
are open, safe, and secure in the space domain;
3. Ensure that space capabilities are of sufficient capability and capacity
to enable decisive offensive and defensive space operations vital to
defending United States, allied, and partner interests in space while
continuing to sustain support to joint operations;
4. Conduct operations in, from, and through space to deter conflict, and if
deterrence fails, to defeat aggression while protecting and defending
United States vital interests with allies and partners;
5. Provide, as launch agent for the Department of Defense and the
Intelligence Community, affordable and timely space access for national
security purposes while using commercial space capabilities and services to
the maximum practical extent;
6. Develop, as launch agent for the Department of Defense and the
Intelligence Community, rapid launch options to reinforce or to
reconstitute priority national security space capabilities in times of
crisis and conflict and that, when practicable and appropriate, leverage
commercial capabilities;
7. Detect, characterize, warn, attribute, and respond to, in coordination
with the Secretary of State and other relevant agencies, space-related
behaviors and activities that threaten the space interests of the United
States, its allies, or partners, international peace and security, or the
long-term sustainability of the space environment;
8. Periodically conduct policy-driven, threat-informed, strategically-
focused space posture reviews and assessments that encompass military,
diplomatic, informational, and economic aspects of posture, including
evaluation of the suitability of U.S. Government, commercial industry,
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and international space architectures to deliver effective and integrated
deterrence and compellence solutions; and
9. Develop, acquire, and operate space intelligence capabilities to support
joint operations.
(f) Intelligence Community.
i. The Director of National Intelligence shall:
1. Enhance foundational scientific and technical intelligence collection
and single and all-source intelligence analysis;
2. Coordinate with the Secretary of Defense to ensure necessary and
sufficient intelligence support for acquisition, operations, and defense of
space capabilities;
3. Develop, obtain, and operate space intelligence capabilities to support
strategic goals, intelligence priorities, and assigned tasks;
4. Provide robust, timely, and effective collection, processing, analysis,
and dissemination of information on foreign space capabilities and threats
and supporting information system activities;
5. Integrate all-source intelligence of foreign space capabilities and
intentions to produce enhanced intelligence products that support space
domain awareness;
6. Support monitoring, compliance, and verification for transparency and
confidence-building measures and, if applicable, arms control agreements;
7. Ensure Intelligence Community equities are represented and reviewed in
United States Government radio frequency deliberations; and
8. Promote counterintelligence and security partnerships and practices
within the commercial, civil, and national security space communities.
Sec. 6. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this
memorandum shall be construed to impair or otherwise
affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or
the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This memorandum shall be implemented consistent
with applicable law and subject to the availability of
appropriations.
(c) This memorandum is not intended to, and does
not, create any right or benefit, substantive or
procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any
party against the United States, its departments,
agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or
agents, or any other person.
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(d) The Secretary of Commerce is authorized and
directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal
Register.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
Washington, December 9, 2020
[FR Doc. 2020-27892
Filed 12-15-20; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3510-07-P