S. 1961 — LAUNCH Act

This section requires the Secretary of Transportation, not later than 120 days after enactment, to evaluate the implementation of part 450 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations—which sets performance-based safety requirements for commercial launch and reentry vehicle operations—and its impacts on the commercial spaceflight industry, including any increased uncertainty, operational delays, and changes to review timelines. Not later than 90 days after completing the evaluation, the Secretary must submit a report to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology containing the evaluation's findings, recommendations to reduce delays and inefficiencies without additional personnel or funding, and estimated timelines and costs for implementing those recommendations. This section further directs the Secretary to (1) continue supporting an Aerospace Rulemaking Committee, comprised of U.S. commercial space launch and reentry providers, to recommend amendments to part 450 addressing identified challenges and to serve as a long-term industry forum (without duplicating efforts of the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee); and (2) determine on an ongoing basis whether license requirements under 51 U.S.C. chapter 509—which authorizes commercial space launches and reentries—can be modified or eliminated to encourage innovative technologies and operations. This section amends 51 U.S.C. §50905 (governing license application procedures) by (1) requiring the Secretary to accept a reasonable safety rationale proposed by a license applicant, including new approaches (previously discretionary under §50905(a)(2)); (2) requiring the Secretary to assign a licensing team lead to each applicant to streamline the review process (§50905(a)(3), as added); and (3) requiring streamlined review processes for license applications and modifications, including timely incremental reviews under 14 C.F.R. §450.33 and elimination of duplicative interagency reviews, particularly for Federal ranges (§50905(d), as amended).

This section establishes a digital licensing, permitting, and approval system under which the Secretary of Transportation must, not later than 60 days after enactment, develop and maintain (using a commercially available off-the-shelf system) an online platform to accept, track from receipt through final decision, and provide status notifications for commercial space license and permit applications. The system must display on a public DOT website—updated quarterly—application receipt dates, interagency referral dates, information request dates, final decision dates, and the system's timeline success rate; it also requires electronic notifications to applicants upon receipt, completeness determination, processing initiation, interagency review (identifying involved agencies), approval or denial, questions posed, interagency responses, and other status updates. This section further defines an application as complete upon electronic submission of all required information in standard digital format and authorizes not more than $5 million from amounts available to the Federal Aviation Administration for Commercial Space Transportation Safety Research and Development for FY2025 to develop the system.

This section requires the Secretary of Transportation to provide an annual briefing to specified congressional committees by March 31 on the processing of commercial space launch and reentry license applications under 51 U.S.C. §50905 during the preceding calendar year. The briefing must include (1) the average number of days from application submission to final approval or denial; (2) the frequency and average duration of tolling; (3) the number of applications exceeding statutory review timelines; (4) a description of streamlining efforts under §50905(d); (5) a summary of data from the digital licensing system under §50905(e), plus other relevant information; and (6) an assessment of whether the process promotes U.S. commercial space industry competitiveness. "Appropriate committees of Congress" are defined as the Senate Committees on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and Appropriations; and the House Committees on Science, Space, and Technology, Transportation and Infrastructure, and Appropriations.

This section directs the Secretary of Transportation to use direct hire authorities—as they existed the day before enactment—to hire individuals on a noncompetitive basis for positions in the Office of Commercial Space Transportation related to commercial space launch and reentry licensing and permitting. It further requires the Secretary to submit annual reports to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology on the use of such authorities within the Commercial Space Transportation Administration.

This section establishes the Commercial Space Transportation Administration within the Department of Transportation (DOT), to be headed by an Administrator who reports directly to the Secretary of Transportation and exercises the Secretary's authorities over commercial space launch and reentry activities under chapter 509 of title 51, United States Code. (As background, chapter 509 governs commercial space transportation licensing and safety regulation, currently handled by DOT's Office of Commercial Space Transportation.)

This section expresses the sense of Congress that flight safety analysis is critical to public safety for commercial space launches and reentries from Federal ranges; that expertise exists within the Department of Defense, Department of Transportation, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration; and that greater interagency cooperation is needed due to the increasing pace of such activities. It further directs the Secretary of Transportation, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense and the NASA Administrator, to submit to specified congressional committees—not later than 180 days after enactment—a report identifying executive branch roles, responsibilities, expertise, and knowledge related to flight safety analysis for space launch and reentry activities. Finally, it authorizes the Secretary, upon completion of the report, to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Secretary of Defense and the NASA Administrator to allow Federal range personnel to support flight safety analysis required for commercial space launch and reentry licensing.

This section streamlines licensing of private remote sensing space systems (i.e., commercial satellites collecting imagery and other data of Earth) by (1) clarifying that instruments determined by the Secretary of Commerce to be used primarily for mission assurance or other technical purposes—such as supporting launch vehicle health, spacecraft safety, navigation, attitude control, separation events, payload deployments, or self-images—are not considered remote sensing and thus excluded from regulation under 51 U.S.C. §60121(a)(2); (2) requiring the Secretary to assign a dedicated licensing officer for each application to facilitate the process, minimize license conditions, and expedite review to the extent authorized by law (via new §60121(d) and redesignation of subsections (d)–(e) as (e)–(f)); and (3) directing the Secretary to provide transparency and engagement with applicants (including specifying the basis for license tiering determinations), minimize review timelines, and annually reevaluate tiering criteria with a goal of expeditiously recategorizing higher-risk Tier 3 systems to lower tiers without temporary conditions. (Thus, these changes aim to reduce regulatory burdens on commercial operators while maintaining national security and international obligations.)

This section directs the Comptroller General of the United States to submit to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, not later than one year after the date of enactment, a report assessing the Department of Commerce's policies, regulations, and practices with respect to the private remote sensing space industry (i.e., commercial satellite-based Earth observation). The report must (1) evaluate the extent to which such licensing policies, regulations, and practices promote or inhibit a robust domestic private remote sensing industry, including any restrictions impeding innovative capabilities; and (2) provide recommendations for changes to promote U.S. industry leadership, including on the costs versus benefits of on-site ground station visits and compliance alternatives, information in license applications treated as material facts and related justifications, incorporating industry feedback, and increasing transparency through wide dissemination of guidance, clear application instructions, and written precedents of Department actions.