The Federal Aviation Administration will establish a committee that will perform spaceflight-related studies to recommend changes to the Part 450 launch and reentry licensing rule.
Members of the commercial space industry and academia are invited to join the Aerospace Rulemaking Committee, with the group’s initial meeting expected to be held in the first week of December, the FAA said Thursday.
The committee will focus on flight safety analyses, system safety and means of compliance, among other topics, and submit a report on its recommended Part 450 rule changes by late summer 2025 to inform the agency’s future rulemaking actions.
According to Kelvin Coleman, FAA associate administrator for commercial space transportation, updating the licensing rule will foster more clarity, flexibility, efficiency and innovation and ensure licensing decisions will not compromise public safety.
Increasing Commercial Space Operations
The planned update comes as the FAA reported granting licenses to 148 commercial space operations in fiscal year 2024, up more than 30 percent compared to FY 2023. By FY 2028, the agency expects to issue permits to more than twice the current number of licensed spaceflights.
The FAA is also working to improve its internal processes through other projects, including exploring tools that can automate license application submission and evaluation.