Commentary on provisions of the Act Regulation of spaceflight etc Section 2: Duties and supplementary powers of the regulator
Subsection (1) imposes a duty on the regulator to carry out its functions relating to spaceflight activities so as to secure public safety. This duty has primacy over the various other matters that the regulator has to take into account in exercising its functions under the Act.
	Subsection (2) requires the regulator to exercise functions in a manner best calculated to take into account the matters listed in this subsection. There is no hierarchy between the interests and requirements listed in paragraphs (a) to (h).
	Paragraph (g) refers to any international obligations of the United Kingdom. These obligations are not limited to those in the UN Space Treaties, but include any obligation arising as a matter of international law. Paragraph (h) refers to any space debris mitigation guidelines issued by an international organisation in which the government of the United Kingdom is represented. This is intended to capture the guidelines issued by the Inter-Agency Debris Co-ordination Committee of which the UK is a member.
	If there is a conflict between any of the matters to be considered under subsection (2), subsection (3) requires the regulator to apply them in a reasonable way, taking account of all factors in the application of the provisions as a whole.
	Subsection (4) provides that the regulator may do anything that the regulator has calculated to be useful to perform its functions. Subsection (5) states that this power is subject to any restrictions arising from this or other legislation.
	Subsection (6) provides various definitions. A "spacecraft" is either a space object or a craft that is capable of being used for sub-orbital activities, as the latter are defined in section 1(5). The definition of a spacecraft does not require such a craft to have any particular technological or design feature to achieve propulsion.
	By contrast, a carrier aircraft is defined to be an aircraft3 that is not capable of operating above the stratosphere and is used to carry a spacecraft. The definition does not mean that a craft that is capable of operating above the stratosphere (but not a space object) cannot be an aircraft.
	Subsection (7) enables regulations to prescribe the meaning of "members of the public" for the purposes of provisions of the Act relating to public safety.