U.S. Chamber Backs FCC's Space Modernization Order

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has urged FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to adopt the Space Modernization Order at the Commission's July 22 open meeting, calling the rewrite of America's satellite licensing rules long overdue.

In a letter addressed to Carr at the Commission's Washington headquarters at 45 L Street NE, the Chamber voiced support on behalf of its members for the first major restructuring of the U.S. satellite licensing framework in decades. The business group praised both the Chairman and the full Commission for pursuing the modernization.

At the center of the debate is a generational mismatch. The existing Part 25 regime, the Chamber argues, "was built for a different era." The rules date from a time when single satellites in single orbits defined the industry. That world no longer exists.

"Today's commercial space sector demands a regulatory framework that can keep pace with large constellations, multi-orbit architectures, and accelerating innovation," the letter states.

The Chamber's preferred replacement is the proposed Part 100 framework. It describes the new structure as modular and certification-based — an approach designed to let regulators process applications for systems that look nothing like the satellites Part 25 was written to govern.

Several provisions draw the Chamber's specific endorsement. The framework creates new licensing pathways for two classes of missions the old rules struggled to accommodate: Vehicle-Type Space Station (VTSS) and Multi-Orbit Space Station (MOSS) missions. It also consolidates multi-orbit licensing into a single process and streamlines earth station registration. A standardized 20-year term for licenses rounds out the package, giving operators longer regulatory certainty than current rules provide.

Each element addresses a pain point the current system imposes on commercial operators. Large constellations with hundreds or thousands of satellites have forced applicants to squeeze novel architectures into licensing categories designed decades ago. Multi-orbit systems that move between low Earth orbit and higher regimes face similar friction. Earth station operators, meanwhile, have navigated registration procedures the Chamber views as slower than the market requires.

The letter lands as the FCC prepares to vote at its July 22 open meeting. Chairman Carr has made space policy a stated priority, and the Chamber's endorsement gives the order visible backing from the country's largest business federation heading into the vote.

The stakes extend beyond paperwork. Satellite licensing speed increasingly determines where companies build and operate constellations, and regulators in other jurisdictions have moved to streamline their own approval processes. A U.S. framework that certifies rather than re-litigates each mission could shorten time-to-market for operators planning multi-orbit deployments — the very systems the Chamber says now define the sector.

If the Commission adopts the order as written, VTSS and MOSS missions would gain dedicated pathways, multi-orbit systems would file once rather than several times, and earth station registrations would move through a simplified process — changes the Chamber believes will let U.S. licensing keep pace with the industry it regulates.