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Praising the new regulations, Dr. Sco Pace, Deputy Assistant to US President and Executive Secretary of the National Space Council, said, "American industry is driving innovation in commercial remote sensing at an increasingly rapid rate. ese streamlined and updated rules are critical to ensuring US regulations keep up with the speed of innova- tion and ensure the United States remains the flag of choice for commercial space businesses. A welcome move "Maxar is pleased with the significant update to the Commerce Department's remote sensing regulations, which relaxes many of the barriers that have held US companies back. We look forward to receiving updated licenses that embody the forward-leaning principles espoused in the preamble to the new rules," said Dan Jablonsky, CEO of Maxar, which is one of the largest commer- cial remote sensing operators in the US In a statement soon aer the announce- ment, smallsat major Planet said, "ese stream- lined, forward-looking regulations represent a philosophical shi in striking a balance between US technological innovation, competition from foreign actors and national security." "In general, I view these proposed changes as quite encouraging for the space industry — primarily because I expect they will push forward new innovations and also allow US companies to be more competitive in the global market," said Emiliano Kargieman, CEO and Founder of Satellogic. Echoed SkyWatch CEO James Slifierz. "We believe the revamped regulations will help the industry as a whole. We really look forward to seeing what new applications will be developed with these new datasets. We can avoid situations where US lawmak- ers try and play catch up with the speed of innovation, adding costs and delays to new constellations going up and stifling the growth of the industry." Fresh categorization e new rules mean that if a satellite imagery can be bought in a foreign country, US satellite companies have the right to sell it. For instance, when data is captured by an American company and sold through a Canadian platform to a Dutch client for their South African customers, things can get really complicated, explained Slifierz. With the expected increase in the volume of satel- lite data to be generated daily in the future, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning applications will play an increasingly larger role in how data is used. e revisited regu- THREE-TIER APPROACH The rules categorize applicants based on the degree to which the unenhanced data to be generated by their proposed system are already available lation should help data sellers and buyers across the globe. e new guidelines do away with the earlier dra proposal to classify applications as "low risk" or "high risk" from a national security perspective and instead uses a three- tier approach. "is (the earlier) rules worked under the assumption that Remote Sensing systems would be regulated so as to prevent them from causing harm to national security: more risk a system posed to national security, the more restrictive its license would be," the Department of Commerce said in the rule. e industry had argued the earlier regula- tion would have classified almost all commer- cial satellite companies as "high risk". e new rules, however, have no bearing on US government Remote Sensing capabil- ities or the data policy regarding the availa- bility of data or products therefrom, such as Landsat and NOAA's operational satellites. Only private remote sensing space systems operated by all other entities — commercial, non-profit, academic, or otherwise — will be under the purview of this regulation. Anusuya Daa Editor-At-Large - Technology & Innovation anusuya@geospatialmedia.net Faces minimum restrictions. An applicant proposes a system that is capable only of producing unenhanced data substantially the same as unenhanced data available from sources not regulated by Commerce. An applicant proposes a system that is capable of producing unenhanced data that are substantially the same as unenhanced data available from US sources only. As there is no foreign competition for that unenhanced data, a US license restriction could be effective. Faces most stringent controls. An applicant proposes a system that is capable of producing unenhanced data that are substantially the same as no available unenhanced data—that is, if the applicant has no competitors, foreign or domestic. TIER 1 TIER 2 TIER 3 www.geospatialworld.net | May-June 2020 7

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