Possible Space Debris Policy Progress Seen Under National Space Council

debris, said Moon Express Vice President-Government Affairs Ben Roberts in a Policy Studies Organization talk Friday. In most administrations, the president is making only the toughest decisions, and the key to space policy thus comes in choosing the staffers and advisers who formulate most of the policy, said Roberts, who most recently was in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Obama administration. But Planetary Society Space Policy Adviser Jason Callahan said those staffing decisions aren't enough because of the competing interests, like Congress, requiring that the president have ongoing engagement. Callahan said that has been a space policy failure in the U.S. for years, with presidents setting a space policy goal and then moving on to other issues and that policy going nowhere. The burgeoning commercial space industry is changing that dynamic, making the transition from one presidential administration to another less dramatic, said Commercial Spaceflight Federation Director Tommy Sanford: "The Elons and the Jeffs ... they're continuing to do their thing regardless of who is in office," referring to Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, and Jeff Bezos, founder of spaceflight company Blue Origin. The most dramatic space activity in coming years will be among commercial operators, and the Trump administration has shown an inclination to partner with them, Sanford said. Added Roberts, the Trump White House seems likely to approach civil space efforts in a coalition with the private sector. The space industry's best resource currently "is a bunch of nerdy billionaires," he said. Commercial space companies have the biggest incentives to deal with orbital debris, Sanford said, saying the federal government is a huge generator of debris and often breaks its own 25-year deorbiting rule. A big challenge to addressing orbital debris is having the federal government follow its own rules, he said. Added Callahan, governments likely will look for -- and use -- effective commercial solutions to debris when they emerge.