Space Industry Act 2018

2 Duties and supplementary powers of the regulator

(1) The regulator must exercise the regulator’s functions with regard to spaceflight activities with a view to securing public safety.

That duty has priority over the application of subsections (2) and (3).

(2) The regulator must exercise the regulator’s functions under this Act in the way that the regulator thinks best calculated to take into account—

(a) the interests of persons carried by spacecraft or carrier aircraft;

(b) the requirements of persons carrying out spaceflight activities;

(c) the interests of any other persons in relation to the use of land, sea and airspace;

(d) the requirements of persons with interests in property carried by spacecraft;

(e) any environmental objectives set by the Secretary of State;

(f) the interests of national security;

(g) any international obligations of the United Kingdom;

(h) any space debris mitigation guidelines issued by an international organisation in which the government of the United Kingdom is represented.

(3) If in a particular case there is a conflict in the application of the provisions of subsection (2), in relation to that case the regulator must apply them in whatever way the regulator thinks reasonable having regard to the provisions as a whole.

(4) The regulator may do anything that is calculated to facilitate, or is conducive or incidental to, the performance of any of the regulator’s functions under this Act.

(5) The power in subsection (4) is subject to any restrictions imposed by or under any enactment.

(6) In this Act—

• “carrier aircraft” means an aircraft that is not capable of operating above the stratosphere and is used, or (as the case may be) is to be used, to carry a spacecraft;

• “public safety” means the health and safety of members of the public (see subsection (7)) and the safety of their property;

• “the regulator” has the meaning given in section 16(8);

• “spacecraft” means a space object, or a craft to which section 1(5) applies, that is used or (as the case may be) is to be used for the purpose of spaceflight activities.

(7) Regulations may prescribe the meaning of “members of the public” for the purposes of any provision of this Act that refers to public safety.

The regulations may provide that a person who is voluntarily in close proximity to a source of danger is not a member of the public for any such purposes.