Commerce launches initial phase of its space traffic coordination system

The Commerce Department announced on Monday that it has begun to beta test its new process for alerting satellite operators of potentially threatening space traffic and debris. 

The initial phase of the Traffic Coordination System for Space, or TraCSS, is providing a handful of operators with “basic space situational awareness data and space traffic coordination services.”

The nine satellite operators involved in the phase 1.0 deployment of TraCSS include NOAA, Maxar, Telesat, Intelsat, the Georgia Institute of Technology, Planet Labs, Eutelsat Oneweb, Iridium and the Aerospace Corporation.

According to Commerce, those providers will “now receive validated safety notifications from TraCSS in the form of conjunction data messages,” which the department said are “alerts describing potential collisions.” 

TraCSS will provide conjunction data messages “for approximately 1,000 space objects six times a day” in phase 1.0.

The effort is overseen by the Office of Space Commerce, which is located within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

“The Department of Commerce is building this system in close cooperation with industry partners to harness and promote commercial innovation in space,” Commerce Deputy Secretary Don Graves said in a statement. “Together, we are helping to ensure the safe and sustainable growth of the space economy.”

Previous federal edicts — including the December 2021 space priorities framework and the National Space Traffic Management Policy released in June 2018 — directed Commerce to take over the Pentagon’s sharing of space situational awareness data with civil and commercial satellite operators.

The Department of Defense currently operates the Space-Track.org website to share relevant data with satellite providers. Commerce said conjunction data messages are still being distributed by TraCSS through the Space-Track.org site during the beta phase, although the department plans to establish a dedicated TraCSS.gov platform moving forward. 

“DOD will also continue to provide [space situational awareness] services to civil and commercial users during the transition process until [Commerce] is able to assume full responsibility for the mission,” said John Hill, who is performing the duties of associate secretary of defense for space policy. “Transitioning the spaceflight safety [space situational awareness] responsibilities to [Commerce], a civil agency, will improve support to these users and allow DOD to focus its resources on core defense missions.”