SPEAKER INTERVIEW

Alyson Decker, Of Counsel, Taylor | Anderson LLP 

1) Alyson, you have always had a passion for law and space, and you are an experienced space attorney. What changes do you think we’ll see in space policy under the new administration? 
 
I think under the new administration we will see more emphasis on private-government collaboration with less of a focus on internal government mission design and implementation. I also think we will likely see less of a drive to regulate space activities from a human flight safety perspective as well as from an environmental launch perspective.  I also expect there will be more of a focus on military and intelligence assets in space and less on scientific assets that do not serve a commercial purpose.  Lastly, with mounting tariffs and increased concern over national security, you are likely to see less cooperation with international partners, both governmental and private, and more of a focus on American made and developed aerospace technology. 

 
2) Given the current challenges in international trade, what legal hurdles do you foresee space companies facing? 

The big one right now is tariffs.  When key components and raw materials become more expensive to import, costs for already expensive aerospace assets can exponentially increase. And right now, there is a lot of uncertainty as to what tariffs are going to apply to which countries, for which types of goods, at what times.  You also have the reactions to tariffs where there has been a sort of unofficial decision to not “buy” American, which could mean more focus on local or regional providers in Europe and other traditional export locations.  There’s also the potential for some of the more lenient rules we’ve had with Canada (and other allies) as to ITAR and EAR could be ended.  All of this may make it much harder to collaborate across borders or utilize foreign supply chains.  If aerospace companies want to continue to do business abroad, they will need to build flexibility into their contracts to account for the changing tariffs and import/export rules.  And given how far in the future many aerospace projects are planned; this is particularly challenging if a contract you entered into two years ago no longer makes sense now. 

3) How likely is the expansion of opportunities designed to integrate private aerospace companies into traditionally government-run national aerospace programs? 

I predict we will see a continued expansion of opportunities for private aerospace companies to work with our nationally run governmental aerospace programs.  The involvement of Elon Musk at high levels in this administration and Jared Isaacman being nominated to be the new Administrator of NASA are clear signs that private aerospace companies are going to be welcomed by this administration.  And in the past year, even before President Trump came into office, we have seen the increase in programs like NASA CLPS and DoD SBIR/STTR, all of which are designed to increase commercial and private participation in governmental space programs.   

4) Do you anticipate a greater reliance on private aerospace assets by government agencies for military needs? 

I do anticipate a greater reliance on private aerospace assets by government agencies for military needs.  In part this is because the requisition process can be faster as one can “buy” products and assets that are already available.  In part this is because not building things “in-house” allows military personnel and agencies to focus on what they are best at and better utilize their resources.  It also allows for one to pursue different prototypes and to focus on easily replaceable assets if something does not work or is damaged.  

5) And finally, how do you see international cooperation evolving? 

Honestly, I see international cooperation “de-volving”. Although the Artemis Accords appeared to herald a new era of international cooperation in space exploration, the growing trade wars, “America First” policies, new strains in the relationships between America and our traditional allies, and also the continually growing tensions between America and China, I think the era of multi-state collaboration on large and grandiose scientific focused aerospace missions is over.  We are already seeing Russia, China, and the United States test the limits of some of the provisions of the Outer Space Treaty and I think we will see a growth in the militarization of space, which typically results in more singular space efforts versus international cooperation. 

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