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

“It is rocket science, after all,” says Trump-appointed FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, who questions the commission’s mandate on orbital debris mitigation oversight for commercial space companies.

“Security in space is different than security on Earth,” says Jeb Linton of IBM Watson. “If you lose command and control for even five minutes, your satellite could be completely shut down.”

“Much of the excitement surrounding the ‘new space age’ is centered on recent innovations and growth seen in the commercial satellite industry,” said Tom Stoup, president of the Satellite Industry Association. 

“I think it will be incumbent on governments pretty soon to force operators to have some way to get their  satellite out of the way [when it fails] and get it into a proper graveyard orbit,” says Michael Pollack, who does business development for Effective Space.

From 150 down to two — that’s how intense and ruthless the competition is going to be to win the Pentagon’s nod for the small launch vehicle market.

The Swiss want a new anti-missile defense system and asked for bids. We’re hearing the US leaned on Israel so Rafael did not submit a bid. Israel, as this story makes clear, really does want to bid.

The R3D2 spacecraft’s cutting-edge antenna is “compressed into a small volume and then blooms on orbit,” explains Northrop Grumman’s Scott Stapp.

The sea services have their own space specialists, but those personnel don’t only work on space — so who stays and who goes?

“President Trump has made it clear that the race to 5G is a race America will win,” Pence said.