A
graphic
image
of
satellites
and
debris
in
space,
produced
by
the
Center
for
Strategic
and
International
Security,
the
Secure
World
Foundation,
and
the
University
of
Texas
at
Austin.
(Satellite
Dashboard)
AUSTIN,
Texas
—
The
Trump
administration
has
reinstated
the
top
official
at
the
National
Oceanic
and
Atmospheric
Administration
(NOAA)
charged
with
licensing
commercial
remote
sensing
satellite
operations
who
was
fired
last
week,
following
a
reported
revision
in
the
Office
of
Personnel
Management’s
(OPM)
instructions
to
federal
agencies
requiring
the
firing
of
all
“probationary”
employees.
Sarah
Brothers,
the
head
of
NOAA’s
Commercial
Remote
Sensing
Regulatory
Affairs
(CRSRA),
is
back
on
her
job,
a
spokesperson
for
NOAA
told
Breaking
Defense
Tuesday.
Nonetheless,
representatives
of
US
remote
sensing
companies
have
expressed
to
Breaking
Defense
that
they
remain
extremely
nervous
about
possible
roadblocks
to
future
plans
that
require
either
new
licenses
or
license
modifications
due
to
the
personnel
downsizing
resulting
from
the
efforts
of
Elon
Musk’s
DOGE
team
to
chop
the
size
of
the
federal
bureaucracy.
CRSRA
is
the
division
within
NOAA’s
Office
of
Space
Commerce responsible
for
regulating
space-based
commercial
remote
sensing,
including
work
involving
companies
such
as
Planet,
Maxar
and
BlackSky
that
provide
imagery
to
the National
Reconnaissance
Office for
use
by
the
Defense
Department
for intelligence,
surveillance
and
reconnaissance
purposes.
NOAA,
in
turn,
is
under
the
Department
of
Commerce.
Several
industry
sources
said
that
the
Office
of
Space
Commerce
has
lost
between
25
to
30
percent
of
its
total
workforce
of
some
60
employees.
Tahara
Dawkins,
director
of
policy
at
Astroscale
U.S.
and
former
chief
of
staff
of
the
National
Space
Council,
emphasized
the
critical
nature
of
CRSRA’s
role,
based
on
her
own
firsthand
experience
leading
the
office.
“Commercial
remote
sensing,
including
non-Earth
imaging,
plays
a
critical
role
in
maintaining
American
space
leadership.
We
look
forward
to
CRSRA’s
continued
facilitation
of
private
sector
innovation
in
space,”
she
said.
Dawkins
comments
were
echoed
by
several
representatives
of
remote
sensing
companies,
who
noted
that
CRSRA
has
been
instrumental
in
helping
them
navigate
what
is
a
bit
of
a
murky
regulatory
arena
as
industry
races
to
bring
new
capabilities
to
bear.
They
also
pointed
out
that
CRSRA’s
“light
touch”
approach
to
regulation
was
crafted
during
the
first
Trump
administration,
and
subsequently
embraced
by
the
Biden
administration.
Meanwhile,
there
were
many
small
sighs
of
relief
from
experts
here
at
the
annual
Space
Traffic
Management
conference
at
the
University
of
Texas
at
Austin
in
response
to
the
news,
also
confirmed
by
the
NOAA
spokesperson,
that
Dmitry
Poisik,
the
head
of
the
Office
of
Space
Commerce’s
program
to
create
a
civil
space
traffic
management
regime,
too
has
been
reinstated.
That
program,
called
the
Traffic
Coordination
System
for
Space
(TraCCS),
was
designed
under
the
2018
Space
Policy
Directive-3
to
take
the
burden
of
warning
non-military
satellite
operators
of
potential
on-orbit
crashes
off
DoD’s
shoulders.
Poisik
was
scheduled
to
speak
at
the
conference,
but
withdrew
after
his
termination
due
to
the
original
Feb.
13
OPM
memo
ordering
the
mass
firing
of
“probationary”
employees.
In
most
federal
agencies,
personnel
who
have
yet
to
complete
one
full
year
in
their
job
are
given
“probationary”
status.