WASHINGTON-The fallout over alleged technology transfers, increasingly testing the mettle of
fledgling mobile satellite firms, has prompted new bills to aid the U.S. space launch industry and to ban satellite
exports to China altogether.
Sens. John Breaux (D-La.) and Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), chairman of the Senate
communications subcommittee, have introduced legislation to set up a loan guarantee program that would provide $500
million initially for U.S. private-sector development of commercial space transportation vehicles.
“The U.S.
needs more launch capacity to service the vital and expanding commercial satellite industry,” said Breaux.
“Companies shouldn’t have to go abroad to find lower cost and more reliable services, and this bill helps
eliminate the risk of any sensitive technology transfer.”
Breaux, noting that lack of private capital and high
risks have conspired against the development of a space-launch sector in the United States, said the Commercial Space
Transportation Cost Reduction Act would address those challenges. He said the space launch plan, which includes a
set-aside for small business, is modeled after the shipbuilding loan guarantee program.
Clayton Mowry, executive
director of the Satellite Industry Association, said the Breaux bill is a step in the right direction, but added it will not
help U.S. satellite firms in the near term.
On the other hand, Michoud Assembly Facility, a New Orleans fabrication
center and an established builder of fuel tanks for space vehicles, is expected to see tangible benefits if Congress passes
the bill.
While the U.S. government offers some space-launch services, American mobile satellite operators
increasingly have turned to China, Russia and the Ukraine to have their business needs met.
Contracting overseas
for satellite space launches requires American firms like Iridium World Communications Ltd., Loral Corp. and Hughes
Electronics Co. to go through a lengthy process to secure U.S. government export licenses.
But some U.S. firms are
under fire for allegedly passing along sensitive technical data to Chinese and Russian partners, which, some believe,
will parlay commercial high-tech intelligence into military improvements.
The Justice Department is investigating
Hughes and Loral on that score.
A select House committee on high-tech exports to China late last December
concluded U.S. national security was compromised by American satellite deals with Beijing. The panel’s full report is
due out shortly.
Rep. John Sweeney, a freshman GOP congressman from New York, is sponsoring a measure that
would ban satellite exports to China.
Boeing, a U.S. investor in the Russia-Ukraine Sea Launch, paid a $10 million
fine in October as part of a consent decree with the State Department following claims the aerospace firm broke federal
export laws.
On Feb. 27, the Seattle Times reported a federal grand jury is probing whether Boeing violated
criminal laws by sharing secrets with its Sea Launch partners.
The impact of the investigation on Sea Launch is
unclear.
“We’ve got a launch later this month, and we are moving full speed ahead toward preparing for the
first commercial launch,” said Terrance Scott, a spokesman for Long Beach, Calif.-based Sea Launch.
A
demo launch from a floating platform 1,400 miles south of Hawaii is planned toward the end of the month. The first
commercial launch should take place near the end of the summer. Hughes is the customer for that launch. Loral has
contracted with Sea Launch for a 2001 blast-off.
The Clinton administration two weeks ago scotched Hughes
Electronics Co.’s $450 million deal to supply the China-led Asia Pacific Mobile Telecommunications consortium with
two high-powered satellites for a mobile phone system in that region.
Richard Dore, a Hughes spokesman, said the
company is considering appealing the ruling. The decision, which China sharply criticized, lacked the support of the
pro-trade Commerce Department but had backing from the Pentagon and others.
