The International Trafficking in Arms Regulations: Precluding Innovation in Academic Spacecraft Engineering — or Are They?

Government regulations and uncertainty about their enforcement can be a significant barrier to innovation. In business, it is undesirable to consume time and other resources developing a product that cannot be sold or which requires navigating significant bureaucracy for each sale. In academia, where limited funding is available prior to the submission of a grant proposal and receipt of an award, proposal-stage compliance costs can derail a project long before it begins. This paper reviews the International Trafficking in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and their impact on spacecraft research in academia, private research labs and industry. It reviews the exemptions available, in particular, to academic institutions and how the limited-scope ‘basic research exemption’ may increase the possibility of starting a spacecraft development project but limit the ability to collaborate with industrial partners on proposal development and research activities. Also reviewed is the impact of the combination of ITAR, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other regulations on program implementation in an academic and collaborative academic-industrial research environments. Several common approaches to ITAR compliance are discussed and their efficacy and their prospective impact on innovation is evaluated. Risk factors are discussed and the common and several prospective compliance solutions are evaluated from a risk management perspective.