NOAA Office of Space Commerce Seeks Input On Traffic Management System for Space (TraCSS) Program
NOAA’s Office of Space Commerce (OSC) just issued a Request for Information, seeking additional input from commercial Space Situational Awareness providers and users about its currently planned scope of basic safety services to be offered through the Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS) program.
OSC will use the feedback to help develop capabilities to share SSA data and other critical services to space operators and the public.
Excerpt
AGENCY: Office of Space Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Notice; request for information.
SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Commerce (Department), via the Office of Space Commerce (OSC) in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), requests additional input from interested parties on OSC’s currently planned scope of basic safety services to be provided via the Traffic Management System for Space (TraCSS) program. This input will inform OSC’s development of capabilities to share SSA data, information and services to space operators and the public.
DATES: Responses are due on or before February 27, 2023.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
NOAA’s Office of Space Commerce (OSC) is exploring the scope of a basic safety service for space situational awareness (SSA) services of active satellites and debris in preparation of future OSC SSA products. As described in Space Policy Directive-3 (SPD-3) (https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2018-13521) and the 2021 United States Space Priorities Framework (https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/United-States-Space-Priorities-Framework-_-December-1-2021.pdf), OSC is charged providing basic SSA safety services to all space operators, including conjunction analysis and warning services and making those basic services free of direct user fees while supporting new opportunities for U.S. commercial and non-profit SSA services.
SPD-3 proposed these services be part of an “Open Architecture Data Repository” which OSC will now refer to as TraCSS. TraCSS will provide satellite tracking data and associated products and services to support all private and civil space satellite owner/operators (O/Os). TraCSS will ingest the various available data sources and data types for analysis to support the tracking of debris and space objects. The scope of the initial operating capability, the basic safety service, is the primary subject of interest of this RFI.
OSC greatly appreciated responses to prior RFIs, most recently from its RFI published on July 8, 2022 (https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/07/08/2022-14516/request-for-information-on-industry-needs-for-space-situational-awareness-data-and-value-added). Since that time, in addition to closely reviewing those responses, OSC has concluded a Memorandum of Agreement with the Department of Defense, formalizing the organizations’ relationship for basic SSA, space traffic management (STM), and coordination for civil and commercial entities. OSC also initiated a pilot project to provide spaceflight safety mission assurance to select spacecraft in the medium Earth orbit (MEO) and geostationary Earth orbit (GEO), partnering with the Department of Defense to award seven contracts to U.S. commercial space firms for space situational awareness data analysis.
With this additional insight, OSC has further refined its planned SSA program. OSC has defined its view of the core U.S. Government interests in the provision of basic SSA safety services, and based on that principle, has outlined its anticipated basic SSA safety services and the appropriate mix of commercial and governmental resources to provide those services with greater granularity.
In this RFI, OSC seeks public input broadly from the space community on OSC’s definition of core U.S. Government interests in the provision of basic SSA safety services and its refined plan to meet those interests through the TraCSS, including from spacecraft operators, SSA data providers (current and prospective, ground and space-based), SSA analytic and value-added service providers, academia, nonprofit entities, space insurance providers, and the legal community.
