The United States doesn't yet have a single agency that authorises what a spacecraft does once it's in orbit. The Office of Space Commerce is piloting one now. We're walking an operator through it end to end — not as a case study we're publishing about, but as a real filing, so we learn what actually breaks before we tell anyone else how it works.
*Extendable to 180 days only for a formal interagency dispute.
An executive order in August 2025 directed a process for individualised mission authorisations. The Office of Space Commerce published its Space Commerce Certification proposal in March 2026, and opened a pilot Call for Interest on 20 August 2026. It's voluntary and opt-in — it doesn't replace the FAA, FCC or CRSRA, it runs alongside them, coordinated through OSC.
A certification is not itself an authorisation. It's a credential other agencies may give weight to. OSC has said the pilot will be highly selective — this is not a low bar, and we don't represent it as one to anyone we advise.
Rendezvous and proximity operations.
Novel on-orbit production and processing.
Including Artemis-supporting missions.
Entity ID, evidence of US ownership, mission description, a commitment to iterate transparently with OSC.
Qualitative: real and funded, precedent-setting, genuine commitment — not a low bar.
The complete Space Commerce Certification submission.
FAA, FCC, State, DoD, NASA — on the clock.
Granted, granted with conditions, or denied. Presumption favours approval; denial is limited to four stated grounds.
We're currently drafting the mission narrative, coordinating documentation, and managing the timeline for an operator partner's submission — fixed fee, never a percentage, same as every other Advisory engagement. We're not naming them here: identity disclosure in a federal filing is a separate, explicit agreement from ordinary confidentiality, and it isn't ours to publish before they've decided to. What we can say is what we're learning along the way, because a pilot only works as a pilot if the people running it hear back from the people going through it.
If your mission profile involves servicing, RPO, in-space manufacturing, or lunar operations, this window is open now, and the deadline doesn't move for anyone.
Ask about the pilot