LeoLabs CEO and co-founder Dan Ceperley says the firm has a mission “to drive a new era of transparency in LEO.”

“Of all people, it’s the ‘space warmongers’ doing the most to try to sustain the (space) environment,” one DoD official said.

The new satellite export control rules being finalized by the Commerce and State Depts. will take into account the “need to maintain export controls with some countries, while streamlining them for others,” says Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and debris mitigation can be seen as just “another high-end data analytics problem,” says Kevin O’Connell, of the Commerce Department.

House appropriators rejected Trump’s plan to put satellite regulation under the Commerce Department and chide Secretary Wilbur Ross for his refusal to testify on the 2020 budget request.

The Air Force can’t regulate civilian satellites. The White House wants the Commerce Department to do it. But Democrats say FAA.

Industry officials say there remain strong pockets of resistance to any new regulations, especially among aggressive space startups.