The Space Policy Pioneers Podcast · Science in Space

The Association of Commercial Space Professionals and Bryce Kennedy

·40 min·2 clips

Bryce says space is an evolutionary step and that no regulatory barrier should stop people from going there.

1. The Space Policy Pioneers Podcast episode focuses on The Association of Commercial Space Professionals and Bryce Kennedy's work in space regulation and career pathways. 2. Bryce Kennedy is the president of the Association of Commercial Space Professionals, an adjunct professor at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, and the founder of ACSP's boot camp model. 3. The episode asks why commercial space startups struggle to navigate licensing, export control, and government contracting, and what ACSP is doing to lower those barriers. 4. Bryce says ACSP began while he was at Aegis Space Law, where the team saw startups hit regulatory hurdles that were crippling commercial space business models. 5. He says Air Force Research Labs raised the same problem because SBIR and STTR award winners were failing when they could not navigate the regulatory landscape and government contracting. 6. Bryce describes the first space regulatory boot camp as a way to consolidate information from subject matter experts who donated time to an untested effort. 7. He says the organization later separated from the law firm, became a 501(c)(3), and broadened its mission beyond law-firm access. 8. Bryce explains that a satellite company may need an FAA Part 450 license, an FCC license, export-control review, ITAR or EAR analysis, EPA environmental review, and ITU coordination. 9. He says engineers often focus on the technology while startup founders often miss the regulatory burden in their budgets and business plans. 10. Bryce argues that large companies have lobbyists, inside knowledge, and staff with 20 or 30 years of experience, while startups often cannot afford legal rates around $2,000 an hour. 11. He says ITAR once treated rockets and satellites as weapons, and that export controls now remain a major dispute over what should count as a security risk. 12. Bryce says the ACSP boot camp in Albuquerque, scheduled for March 4th through the 7th, includes Michelle Hanlon from Ole Miss and For All Moonkind. 13. He says the organization is focusing on export controls, telecoms, government contracting, and cybersecurity because those are the big three areas where companies gain an early advantage. 14. Bryce says ACSP is also building research, white paper initiatives, advocacy, and a student program that maps pathways into space careers. 15. He says the Commercial Space Regulatory Professional certification was intentionally made difficult so it would have teeth and eventually function like a PMP-style credential. 16. Bryce says the monthly newsletter is written with help from Will Lewis and Morgan McKelvey and is designed as a succinct digest of what people need to know. 17. Bryce's career story runs through acting, a Penn State business degree, law school, the Department of Justice, Wall Street, executive coaching, Boston Consulting Group, and then space policy. 18. The interview style is conversational and advisory, with repeated detours into mentoring, career strategy, and practical examples from regulation and business. 19. People moving into space law, space policy, or startup operations would get the most value from this episode. 20. Listeners wanting broad aerospace history without career advice or regulatory detail may skip it.

As heard by us

A steady career conversation linking space policy, business thinking, and timing.

The episode follows Bryce Kennedy's work with the Association of Commercial Space Professionals and his route into space policy. It does well by tying career advice to the practical realities around regulation, business development, and personal fit, so the discussion stays…

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Why you'd press play

Hear how Bryce Kennedy built a space-policy career by learning the business and regulatory context around it.

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