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[Satellite News 08-03-10] The U.S. Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) released a report July 26 urging U.S. policymakers to extend assured access to space privileges enjoyed by government-owned spacecraf, to commercial satellites.
The report, “National Security and the Commercial Space Sector,” asserts that an overhaul of the U.S. Air Force’s relationship with its principal launch-services provider, United Launch Alliance (ULA), is an important part of its overall strategy and would help drive more business to U.S. commercial space launchers by providing commercial operators with more options.
In an interview with Satellite News, Intelsat Executive Vice President and General Counsel Phillip Spector said his company strongly supports the initiatives outlined in the report, as they reflect what operators have been arguing about launch options for the past few years.
The report, “National Security and the Commercial Space Sector,” asserts that an overhaul of the U.S. Air Force’s relationship with its principal launch-services provider, United Launch Alliance (ULA), is an important part of its overall strategy and would help drive more business to U.S. commercial space launchers by providing commercial operators with more options.
In an interview with Satellite News, Intelsat Executive Vice President and General Counsel Phillip Spector said his company strongly supports the initiatives outlined in the report, as they reflect what operators have been arguing about launch options for the past few years.
Satellite News: What is the most important point that the CSIS report makes?
Spector: To my knowledge, CSIS is the first government analysis firm that outlined a direct linkage between U.S. national security interests and commercial access to space. This is the most important point made in the document. No one else has come out and said that national security is affected by the ability to launch satellites on a variety of launch vehicles at reasonable prices and in predictable time frames.
For the past several years, the military and its commercial satellite providers have stressed the importance of commercial satellite capacity for military operations. That link has been made time and time again, but no one has ever said that problems with availability for commercial satellite launching impacts national security.
For the past several years, the military and its commercial satellite providers have stressed the importance of commercial satellite capacity for military operations. That link has been made time and time again, but no one has ever said that problems with availability for commercial satellite launching impacts national security.
Satellite News: Do you agree with the report’s suggestion to overhaul ULA?
Spector: Yes. There are two reasons why overhauling ULA would benefit U.S. satellite interests — competition in the launch market and overall U.S. space sector competitiveness — both of which are in decline. To launch U.S.-built satellites, we basically have to deal with two launch options — Arianespace’s Ariane 5 and ILS’ Proton. This situation has two important consequences. The first is that pricing is higher than it should be and has risen dramatically for the past three to five years. The CSIS report confirms that. The second is that Intelsat believes the satellite industry is one launch failure away from a monopoly. If that happens, pricing and availability will get even worse.
Satellite News: Operators and launchers have been arguing about pricing and availability for years with conflicting reports. Does launch competition benefit only operators?
Spector: No. Competition is usually good for everyone. Even for those companies that want to preserve their role. A good example is Microsoft. Since it has been challenged by Google and Apple, the company is much more efficient now than it has ever been. Competition would also make satellite launchers more efficient.
Satellite News: Do you agree with CSIS’ assessment of U.S. space industry’s lack of competitiveness on the global scale?
Spector: Yes. The report claims that U.S. export control policy has been counter-productive. This is a point that Intelsat and other operators strongly agree with. In fact, U.S. export control has had the opposite effect and has encouraged the growth of the foreign space sector in China and in Europe. Thales, for example, has designed satellites without U.S. components to create ITAR-free spacecraft that can be launched on Chinese vehicles. It is a classic example of unintended consequences where the U.S. government set out to protect its space industrial base and, in fact, has eroded that industrial base. The report contains a good suggestion in that the U.S. presidential administration should use its existing waiver authority to permit launches of U.S.-built satellites on launch vehicles.
Satellite News: How does a ULA overhaul come into play as a remedy for the U.S. space sector?
Spector: The report suggests a pricing change to lower the cost of U.S. services and to create more reliability around the manifest that is the timing of the launches, which is of critical importance to satellite operators. ULA has been unreliable and cost-prohibitive to U.S. operators. The additional steps outlined in the CSIS report could make ULA Atlas and Delta rockets much more realistic as commercial launch options.
Satellite News: Couldn’t Sea Launch, Orbital or SpaceX make just as much of a positive impact on the U.S. market?
Spector: Intelsat would love to see those companies become more robust as viable options. Intelsat was very involved in the process of bringing Sea Launch out of Chapter 11. We were an active participant on the Sea Launch reorganization creditor committee, and we have given the company future orders for launches. We are very much eager to see Sea Launch return. However, their first launch is more than a year away.
SpaceX is even further away. We’re thrilled about Falcon 9, but we believe that they are years away from having a reliable product. We make our decisions for launch vehicles years in advance. So it may be some time before SpaceX makes a major impact as a remedy to the U.S. launch situation. Overall, I believe, U.S. policymakers should through their support behind these commercial launch companies.
SpaceX is even further away. We’re thrilled about Falcon 9, but we believe that they are years away from having a reliable product. We make our decisions for launch vehicles years in advance. So it may be some time before SpaceX makes a major impact as a remedy to the U.S. launch situation. Overall, I believe, U.S. policymakers should through their support behind these commercial launch companies.
Satellite News: Why does the U.S. government need reports to understand the importance of its space assets? Is there a disconnect between the U.S. space industry and policymakers?
Spector: I think there is a disconnect between politics and space. I believe that lawmakers don’t think broadly enough about these measures. They assume that when the military wants a satellite launched, it will just magically appear up there. They don’t think about the satellite being built or the steps that we have to take in order to launch it.
Satellite News: Are there any politicians out there who do understand and have been supportive of these measures?
Spector: I can’t name anyone individually, but there is support out there for some of the measures listed in the CSIS report and to increase U.S. space competitiveness. The important thing is that the report gets the message out there.
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