“President Trump knows that a stable and orderly space environment is critical to the strength of our economy and the resilience of our national security systems,” US vice prseident Mike Pence told a conference last week, “and that’s why the National Space Council has developed the first comprehensive space-traffic-management policy, which we will soon be sending to the president’s desk for his approval.”

US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross says the US government wants to establish “some ‘rules of the road’  and that “the prospect of additional devastating collisions is no longer becoming a question of if but of when.”

 “We want to do baby steps, and we want to be sure we get this first phase done right before we try to embroider on top of the additional steps,” Ross said. “Because I think the only thing worse than too aggressive regulation is ill-prepared regulation.”

 “We’re talking small millions of dollars for a budget,” he added, “this is not something that is going to break the camel’s back.”

 “I think everybody recognizes there is a need for some sort of regulation, some sort of orderly practice, some sort of standards in space,” Ross said. “And very often, he who gets there first with a halfway decent set of ideas becomes the standard.”