U.S. Space Policymaking in a New Era of Commercialization

Since 2015, the U.S. space industry has seen rapid commercialization. One new launch provider has nearly taken over the U.S. market from the previous monopoly of United Launch Alliance and has disrupted traditional geostationary satellite communications with low-latency broadband from Low Earth Orbit, three U.S. commercial companies have launched commercial astronauts into space, and two U.S. commercial companies have landed, one successfully and one partially successfully, on the Moon. As the U.S. government seeks to enable new commercial space capabilities, new oversight functions will be needed to monitor the safety, security, and economic stability of these services.

This dissertation has three parts: (1) a historical comparative analysis of 20 measures of organizational culture throughout the history of U.S. aviation regulation since the founding of the Aeronautics Branch; (2) case studies of historical critical infrastructure monopolies and vertical integration, their effects on pricing and innovation, and the increasing role of SpaceX across the space supply chain; and (3) mechanisms for mitigating interference in lunar operations. The author recommends creating a commercial human spaceflight aviation regulatory regime, monitoring economic indicators, ensuring competition, enforcing antitrust laws, and improving data sharing during mission development.