The year in space policy ended with a bang, with the confirmation of NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman.
Here are some of our other top policy headlines of 2025:
- The Artemis Accords By the Numbers: ~60 nations have signed on to the accords, representing every continent except for Antarctica. (This article is from Nov. 4, but all the charts are still up to date—and will be updated as more nations join!)
- Nations Lock Down EO Capabilities As Ukraine War Continues: “This is really the first serious ground war where you had commercial space assets being able to collect images of battle space from space,” Peter Wilczynski, the chief product officer at Vantor, told Payload. “It made a lot of countries think… did they have the capabilities to do that, especially in Europe.”
- Report: China Pushes on Space Diplomacy, Science, Launch: China has parlayed its “Space Silk Road” initiative into a network of 80 international infrastructure projects by weaving its comms tech, ground infrastructure, and sat-manufacturing capabilities into worldwide space programs, according to a report.
- New Caucus Promotes Humanity Boldly Going: A bipartisan group of lawmakers are aiming to promote US leadership in space—and to ensure commercial space players are in lockstep with the government along the way.
- GAO Examines ISAM’s User Uptake Challenges: The GAO said the ISAM industry sufferers from a “chicken and the egg” problem: Servicers don’t want to invest in the tech until there is a broad enough group of potential users, and users don’t want to invest in making their satellites serviceable until there’s a robust ISAM industry.
Lawmakers also introduced and considered a slew of space-related bills in 2025, which are in varying phases of the legislative process. A reminder that the 119th Congress runs through January 2027, so these bills won’t have to restart the process in the new year. Some bills include:
- The ASTRO Act, which passed in the Senate by unanimous consent on Dec. 9. A companion bill passed in the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee in April.
- The Secure Space Act of 2025, which passed the House in April. A companion bill in the Senate was introduced in June.
- The ASCEND Act, which passed the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee in April.
- The Celestial Time Standardization Act, which passed the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee in April.
- The ACERO Act, which passed the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee in June.
- The Unearth America’s Future Act, which was introduced in the House in July.
- The Quad Space Act, which was introduced in the House in September, and the Senate in June.
- The Space Infrastructure Act, which was introduced in the House in February.
