There is a sense of safety in space and governments are still regulating it, says Kevin O’Connell, Trump’s former Director of Space Commerce.
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00:00You know, Kevin, one of the worries that people have when it comes to something being commercialized
00:04is if it's profit driven, then there's the risk of the profit motive causing cutbacks
00:10in areas that could affect safety.
00:12We've seen it to some degree in the airline industry in places.
00:15What risk is there that, you know, in this, if there's a huge surge for profit motive,
00:19that space becomes one of those that's also vulnerable?
00:20And of course, the consequences could be even worse there.
00:24How can we avoid that?
00:25That, you know, the profit drives cutbacks and things or cutting corners.
00:30So I think we have a sense of safety in space, again, for six decades.
00:34The experiences that we've had mostly through governments are now allowing us to understand
00:40places we can take risk in space and maybe where we ought not.
00:44And governments still regulate space.
00:46OK, now we want them to regulate in a light touch way.
00:49We want them to consider the entrepreneur's interest in addition to safety and security,
00:55considerations which have always been classic ways that regulators have thought about space.
00:59And there are actually ways for regulators to encourage industry in a way that encourages
01:04the business forward in a responsible way.