Office of Space Commerce opens pilot for new mission-authorization framework
Office of Space Commerce
OSC's new pilot invites companies to apply for one streamlined authorization path for novel in-space activities.
what happened
The Commerce Department's Office of Space Commerce released a "Call for Interest" August 20 inviting industry to apply for a pilot phase of its proposed Space Commerce Certification (SCC) framework, per OSC and the Federal Register. The pilot, issued under Executive Order 14335, coordinates review across the FAA, FCC, Department of War, State Department, and NASA; OSC will prioritize missions it judges critical to industry advancement and likely to occur, with applications due October 5.
why it matters
A single SCC certificate is meant to expedite other agencies' regulatory requirements for novel in-space activities, a pathway companies pursuing on-orbit servicing, manufacturing, or other first-of-kind missions have lacked; the pilot is the first concrete test of that promise rather than the authorization itself.
for who
In-space servicing, manufacturing, and other novel-mission operators navigating US authorization
signal-to-noise
quick facts
- Companies
- Office of Space Commerce
- Category
- regulatory
- Impact
- notable
- SNR
- 5 / 5
- Event date
- 2026-08-20
- Published
- 2026-08-20 17:28 UTC