Sponsor
Haley Stevens
Representative · D-MI
Representative · D-MI
The bill strengthens NASA’s ability to detect and counter UAS threats to protect launches and the national airspace and adds transparency and limits on data retention, but it expands surveillance and data-sharing authorities that raise privacy, oversight, safety, and industry-uncertainty concerns.
Space industry companies, NASA, and taxpayers will have improved ability to detect and mitigate UAS threats to launch and reentry operations, reducing risk of damage to spacecraft, ground facilities, and mission delays.
NASA personnel and federal operators can research, test, and train with approved UAS detection equipment before operational use, improving readiness and the effectiveness of countermeasures.
Airline and other airspace users benefit from mandated coordination between NASA and the FAA/Secretary of Transportation intended to preserve safe and efficient operation of the national airspace system while NASA conducts UAS-related activities.
The public's communications privacy is at increased risk because the bill authorizes intercepting UAS control communications without consent and expands surveillance authorities that could be used beyond narrow security purposes.
Individuals whose communications are intercepted could see that information shared with other federal agencies, creating a risk that data collected for NASA security could be repurposed for broader law-enforcement or intelligence uses.
Operational testing or use of detection/mitigation capabilities could interfere with the national airspace or avionics, posing safety risks or causing disruptions to transportation workers and passengers if coordination/mitigation fail.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes NASA to detect/identify/monitor/track UAS that pose credible threats to NASA facilities and assets, including limited interception of communications, with training, coordination, reporting, and a 2031 sunset.
Official title: To amend title 51, United States Code, to provide the National Aeronautics and Space Administration authority to detect, identify, monitor, and track unmanned aircraft systems, and for other purposes.
Introduced February 4, 2026 by Haley Stevens · Last progress February 4, 2026
Authorizes the NASA Administrator to detect, identify, monitor, and track unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) or unmanned aircraft that pose a credible threat to NASA facilities, launch/reentry operations, space support vehicles, or payloads. The authority allows use of detection equipment and limited interception/access to communications during UAS operation, requires risk-based inventories and training, mandates coordination with DOT to protect the national airspace, requires semiannual unclassified congressional briefings, limits retention of intercepted communications, and sunsets on September 30, 2031.