Rocket Launch Fees and Honda Tests a Reusable Rocket

You've heard of the "Big Beautiful Bill" ... also known as the Budget Reconciliation Act. One of the provisions in that bill is for space companies to pay a fee for launching rockets beginning next year. According to the text of the bill in both houses of Congress, starting in 2026, the Secretary of Transportation would impose fees on each space launch or reentry under a license or permit.

The fee will be the lesser of a specified amount per pound of payload weight, which increases annually from $0.25 in 2026 to $1.50 in 2033, with further adjustments based on the consumer price index, or a fixed amount per launch or reentry, starting at $30,000 in 2026 and increasing to $200,000 in 2033, also adjusted annually based on the consumer price index.

The Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) would collect the fees, and deposit them into a dedicated fund to be used for administrative expenses. Some 70 percent of the collected fees would be available for the Office's expenses without further appropriation and without fiscal year limitation.

The potential impact to the commercial launch industry is additional costs for each launch or reentry, calculated based on payload weight or a fixed amount. This could significantly impact their budgets, especially for frequent launches. Companies would need to incorporate these fees into their financial planning and pricing strategies, potentially leading to higher costs for their customers.

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Meanwhile, a bill recently introduced in the U.S. Senate would streamline the application process for commercial space launches and the licensing of private remote sensing space systems or satellites.

The "Licensing Aerospace Units to New Commercial Heights" (LAUNCH) Act would require the FAA to streamline the application of regulations for commercial space launches and reentry requirements by eliminating duplicative efforts and taking industry feedback into account. It would also elevate the Commercial Space Transportation office to report directly to the Secretary of Transportation, and require the Transportation Secretary to report on flight safety and workforce collaboration.

According to the Senators introducing the bill, the FAA approval process for commercial space launches is needlessly cumbersome, and to maintain America’s competitive position, the FAA must be able to efficiently approve weekly and, eventually, daily launch and reentry operations by multiple companies in a manner that reduces the burden on the commercial space industry and government resources.

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Getting back to fees for a moment, The FCC has amended its existing method of assessing regulatory fees for space and earth stations. The changes will be effective for the fiscal year 2025 (FY 2025) assessment and collection of regulatory fees.

The two primary changes in the methodology are that regulatory fees are assessed on stations once they are authorized, rather than when the stations are certified to be operational, as is currently the case. Second, existing regulatory fee categories are split for Space Stations (Non-Geostationary Orbit) into two new fee categories: small constellations that are fewer than 1000 authorized space stations, and large constellations of 1000 authorized space stations or more. These changes will better distinguish between space station regulatees, and will more accurately apportion fee burdens among them, which should result in lower per unit regulatory fees for the majority of space station fee payors compared to fiscal year 2024.

The order also adopts an approach that broadens t