OSTP taking on space policy coordination work in place of National Space Council

WASHINGTON — In the absence of the National Space Council, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, or OSTP, has taken on a lead role in coordinating national space policy.

The first Trump administration revived the council in 2017 after nearly a quarter-century of dormancy, with the intent of having it coordinate policy issues among government agencies. The Biden administration continued the council and, for a time last year, it appeared the second Trump administration would do the same.

However, a space policy executive order issued by the White House in December, outlining a broad range of plans in civil and national security space, formally revoked the 2021 executive order that continued the National Space Council.

OSTP has stepped into the coordination role previously handled by the council. “It’s sort of an evolving role,” Charlie Powell, OSTP assistant director for space and spectrum, said of the office’s work on space policy during a panel at the Goddard Space Science Symposium on March 12.

The office “is the coordinator and integrator of space policy in the United States,” he said, pointing to language in the December executive order making the assistant to the president for science and technology — Michael Kratsios, the OSTP director — the person who “shall coordinate the overall implementation of this order.”

“The assistant to the president for science and technology is the implementer and convener for interagency space dynamics,” he said.

Much of that work has involved tasks assigned by the executive order on topics ranging from space nuclear power to reviews of space acquisition programs.

“It really tackles all the major parts of the space policy enterprise,” Powell said. “We wanted to be relatively comprehensive when tackling any one of these things, and we found that the only way to do that was tackle all of these things at once.”

One of the first parts of implementing the policy is the development of guidance for a “National Initiative for American Space Nuclear Power,” which includes efforts such as creating a fission surface power system on the moon by 2030.

The policy called for that plan to be completed 60 days after the release of the order, or by mid-February. It has not yet been released, but Powell said it “should be out the door relatively soon.”

Other upcoming milestones include a new exploration plan from NASA, due 90 days after the order’s release, as well as potential changes to the national space transportation policy, last updated in 2013.

“OSTP helps organize and integrate space policy decisions among the interagency,” he said, “and we mostly try to be good advocates for individual agency equities as we drive the administration’s space agenda.”

Agencies have also been working to respond to another executive order from August focused on commercial space policy topics. That order covered issues ranging from reforming launch licensing regulations to developing a “mission authorization” system to oversee commercial space activities not currently regulated.

The policy also directed the Office of Space Commerce to be moved from within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to report directly to the secretary of commerce.

“Now we are directly reporting to the secretary and I have a lot of great meetings with him,” said Taylor Jordan, assistant secretary of commerce for environmental observation and prediction and acting director of the Office of Space Commerce, during the panel. “He is fully engaged on all things of space and gives us a louder voice.”

He said the office is working on a mission authorization proposal as required by the August order, including discussions with industry.

“We’ve been engaging with industry for many months now, since last fall, on what that should look like,” he said. He did not indicate when that proposal, which was due in January, will be completed.