9 1 other customers of such launch providers, shall, wherever 2 practicable, take steps to ensure that eligible satellites re3 ceive priority status for launch from United States launch 4 sites in the order in which such eligible satellites were mani5 fested by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration 6 as of August 15, 1986. 7 (c) The United States shall not require payment for the 8 provision of launch property and launch services in connec 9 tion with the launch of an eligible satellite. 10 (d) A satellite shall be eligible for the purposes of this 11 section if 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 (1) it was under construction on August 15, 1986; (2) an unperformed launch services agreement or contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration was held with respect to it on August 15, 1986; and (3) it is licensed for launch under the Commercial Space Launch Act. 19 SEC. 6. PREEMPTION OF SATELLITES. 20 Section 15(b) of the Commercial Space Launch Act (49 21 U.S.C. App. 2614(b)) is amended by adding at the end the 22 following new paragraph: 23 "(5)(A) The Secretary of Transportation, with the coop24 eration of the Secretary of Defense and the Administrator of 25 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, shall HR 3765 IH 10 1 take steps to ensure that the launches of satellites with re2 spect to which a launch date commitment from the United 3 States has been obtained for a launch licensed under this Act 4 are not unreasonably preempted from access to United States 5 launch sites or property except in cases of imperative nation6 al need. 7 "(B) The Secretary of Transportation shall include in 8 any license issued under this Act a provision which estab9 lishes an amount of liquidated damages to be paid by the 10 preempting agency of the United States in the event that a 11 satellite is preempted other than as provided in subparagraph 12 (A).". 13 SEC. 7. STUDY OF PROCESS FOR SCHEDULING LAUNCHES. 14 The Secretary of Transportation, in cooperation with 15 the Secretary of Defense and the Administrator of the Na16 tional Aeronautics and Space Administration, and in consul17 tation with representatives of the space launch and satellite 18 industry, shall study ways and means of scheduling Govern19 ment and commercial payloads on commercial launch vehi20 cles at government launch sites in a manner which— 21 22 23 24 25 (1) optimizes the use of the launch property of the United States; and (2) assures that the launch property of the United States that is available for commercial use will be available on a commercially reasonable basis, HR 3765 IH 11 1 consistent with the objectives of the Commercial Space 2 Launch Act. The Secretary shall submit the results of such 3 study to the Congress within 90 days after the date of the 4 enactment of this Act. 5 SEC. 8. COMMERCIAL SPACE LAUNCH SERVICE COMPETITION. 6 It is the sense of the Congress that the United States 7 should explore ways and means of developing a dialogue with 8 appropriate foreign government representatives to seek the 9 development of guidelines for access to launch services by 10 satellite builders and users in a manner that assures the con11 duct of reasonable and fair international competition in com12 mercial space activities. 13 SEC. 9. LAUNCH VEHICLE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 14 The Administrator of the National Aeronautics and 15 Space Administration shall design a program for the support 16 of research into launch systems component technologies, for 17 the purpose of developing higher performance and lower cost 18 United States launch vehicle technologies and systems avail19 able for the launch of commercial and Government spacecraft 20 into orbit. The Administrator shall submit a report outlining 21 such program to the Congress within 60 days after the date 22 of the enactment of this Act. HR 3765 IH |