Departmental Authority
Secretary of Commerce William Verity established the original "Office of Space Commerce" on December 2, 1988, through Department Organization Order 15-19. The Office operated within the Office of the Secretary until 1996, when Secretary Mickey Kantor moved it to the Technology Administration and renamed it the "Office of Air and Space Commercialization" (Department Organization Order 10-17). Following congressional action in 1998 (see legislative authority), the Office adopted the name "Office of Space Commercialization."
The Office moved from the Technology Administration to NOAA in 2005 to comply with additional congressional direction. The relevant Department Organizational Orders were amended to reflect the change in 2007. The Office now appears under Department Organizational Order 25-5 signed by Under Secretary Conrad Lautenbacher.
SECTION 9. NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITE, DATA AND INFORMATION SERVICE.
.10 The Office of Space Commercialization shall be the principal unit for space commerce policy activities within NOAA and the Department. The Office shall:
a. coordinate space commerce policy issues and actions within NOAA and the Department;
b. represent the Department in the development of U.S. policies and in negotiations with foreign countries to promote U.S. space commerce;
c. assist commercial space companies in their efforts to do business with the U.S. Government, and act as industry's advocate within the Executive Branch to ensure the Government meets its space-related requirements, to the maximum practical extent, with commercially available space goods and services, consistent with national security;
d. work to ensure the U.S. Government does not engage in space-related activities that preclude, deter, or compete with U.S. commercial space activities unless required by national security or public safety;
e. promote and coordinate increased U.S. private sector participation in the design and development of U.S. Government space systems and infrastructures, and encourage U.S. Government agencies to make space activities, technology, and infrastructure available for private use to the maximum practical extent;
f. seek the removal of legal, policy, and institutional impediments to space commerce;
g. collect, analyze, and disseminate information on space markets, and conduct workshops and seminars to increase awareness of opportunities to promote private sector investment in U.S. space commerce; and
h. implement the Department's responsibilities to support the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Executive Committee and its Coordination Office.
