Aerospace Industry Urges Congress Not to Kill TraCSS

A coalition of space industry associations representing hundreds of companies is urging Congress to reject Trump Administration plans to kill the nascent Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS). Developed through NOAA’s Office of Space Commerce, TraCSS began beta testing last fall to provide data to civil and commercial satellite operators to avoid collisions.  Just as the system is finally taking shape, it is targeted for elimination in the FY2026 budget request. The Senate Appropriations Committee takes up that proposal on Thursday when it marks up the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) bill that includes NOAA.

Historically, DOD has been the source of data about the location of satellites orbiting Earth, providing access to its public database on Space-Track.org. But with the burgeoning number of commercial satellites now in orbit — SpaceX alone has more than 7,000 — and more launching every week, DOD wants a civil agency to take on that task so it can focus on its military mission.

In his first administration, President Trump assigned the job to the Department of Commerce, NOAA’s parent, in Space Policy Directive-3. NOAA delegated the task of creating an Open Architecture Data Repository (OADR) for Space Situational Awareness (SSA) to the Office of Space Commerce (OSC) working in concert with  commercial companies offering SSA data. The goal is to have a government system continuing to provide basic data for free, but premium services available though commercial entities.

It took a couple of years and a review by the National Academy for Public Administration for Congress to warm up to the idea and appropriate requisite funding. Then there was a 15 month delay before a new head of OSC was appointed after the transition to the Biden Administration. But OSC worked diligently after that to meet a September 30, 2024 deadline to begin testing, which it did.  In May the system was updated.

Despite that success, the Trump Administration wants to kill the program saying “private industry has proven that they have the capability and the business model to provide civil operators with SSA data and STM services using the releasable portion of the DOD catalog” and the intent of SPD-3 has been satisfied. The OSC budget would drop from $65 million in FY2025 to $10 million in FY2026.

In letters to the bipartisan leadership of the House and Senate Appropriations CJS Subcommittees, seven industry associations representing more than 450 U.S. space, satellite and defense industries called on Congress to retain OSC’s funding level at $65 million and support TraCSS. They also want to ensure the $65 million appropriated for FY2025 is spent as Congress intended.

They warn that without space traffic coordination funding, satellite operators will be at greater risk “putting critical missions in harm’s way, raising the cost of doing business, and potentially driving U.S. industry to relocate overseas.” Failure to fund OSC also could mean “reverting the space traffic coordination mission” to DOD despite successive administrations recognizing it is “best managed by a civilian agency.”

Keeping space traffic coordination within the Department of Commerce preserves military resources for core defense missions and prevents the conflation of space safety with military control – critical to U.S. leadership in setting international standards and norms for space activities.

At a time when the United States is facing increasing competition from many corners of the globe, OSC is an invaluable partner to the U.S. space industry. Providing sufficient funding in Fiscal Year 2026 will allow OSC to continue supporting the competitiveness of the U.S. space industry as both the market landscape and orbital environment become increasingly crowded. Industry looks forward to continuing to work with OSC on optimizing its provision of space traffic coordination support to maximize utility for satellite operators and leverage innovation from the private sector.

Congress has supported OSC and the development of TraCSS through appropriations, but an authorization bill hasn’t been enacted yet.  Seven Senators led by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) introduced such a bill, the SAFE Orbit Act (S. 428), and it was approved by the Senate Commerce Committee on March 12.

The Senate Appropriations Committee’s markup is Thursday morning starting at 9:30 am ET.  The House Appropriations Committee postponed its markup, originally scheduled for this week, and has not set a new date.