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TraCSS Delivers Space Situational Awareness to Spacecraft Operators
New Space Traffic Management Program Lays Foundation for Future Space Capabilities
In 2009, an on-orbit collision between a defunct Russian satellite and an Iridium communications satellite created more than 1,800 pieces of debris and signaled an emerging need for a space traffic system. Since then, space has only become more congested with the rise of a commercial launch market that has enabled affordable access to space for commercial, civil and military space programs alike. The resulting influx of satellites on-orbit inspired the signing of Space Policy Directive-3 (SPD-3) during the first Trump administration, which declared the need for U.S. leadership in establishing a space traffic system to mitigate the risk of on-orbit collisions through a coordinated data-sharing effort between the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Commerce. This joint effort produced a new program, the Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS), which late last year achieved initial operating capability in cataloging assets on-orbit and delivering space situational awareness (SSA) to spacecraft operators.
“TraCSS leverages government and commercial capabilities to provide actionable space situational awareness as a free basic service,” said Col (Ret) Charlie McGillis, Elara Nova partner and a currently-serving member of the TraCSS Independent Review Board. “Safety is paramount in space, especially considering there are tens of thousands of satellites on-orbit today. SPD-3 responded to the growing challenges posed by that increasing volume of space traffic and the greater risk it creates for more on-orbit collisions that can create orbital debris.”
An increasingly populated and congested space domain not only increases the likelihood of collisions like the 2009 incident, but the orbital dynamics of space makes those collisions exponentially more damaging than collisions in other domains like land, sea or air.
“Objects in space are traveling over 17,500 miles per hour, so any collision will create a huge debris field that could stay on-orbit for decades or even centuries,” McGillis said, who previously served as the former Director of Intelligence at 14th Air Force (Space) and a former Senior Vice President at Slingshot Aerospace. “Even a small speck of debris can cause significant damage to other spacecraft and render it unusable. This creates a need for satellite operators to be able to maneuver their assets to avoid other spacecraft, as well as debris, to avoid similar collisions in the future.”
Augmenting Government Data with Commercial Capability
The new TraCSS program aims to replace the legacy government-run space traffic system: space-track.org.
“The Department of Defense stood up space-track.org in response to that 2009 collision, because somebody needed to provide that data from a global perspective,” said McGillis, who currently serves as the Public Sector Vice President at The Provenance Chain Network. “But at the time, it wasn’t a huge drain on DOD resources because there weren’t as many satellites on-orbit as there are today. Now, as the number of satellites on-orbit has increased, so has the difficulty and drain on those DOD resources to serve this effort. The Space Force was founded to defend and protect our space assets, not provide a global space traffic system. That’s why the Office of Space Commerce was created to begin transitioning these capabilities from the Department of Defense to the Department of Commerce.”
Today, TraCSS is building off the progress made by space-track.org by delivering basic space situational awareness data directly to civil and commercial spacecraft operators.
“TraCSS has taken a methodical, iterative approach where commercial owner-operators provide their data directly, which was also done on the DOD system,” McGillis said. “A commercial vendor also built TraCSS’ cloud-based infrastructure, which takes DOD data and augments it with commercially provided data. But if you want access to that information as a commercial space owner-operator, you have to provide the ephemeris – or location – of your own assets in space.”
Commercial Opportunities and Remaining Space Traffic Challenges
TraCSS delivers its space tracking data through what are called conjunction data messages (CDMs), or standardized notifications about potential close approaches between space objects. Receiving a CDM is seen as a first step toward enabling a satellite operator to maneuver their spacecraft out of the way to avoid a collision. But other challenges remain in creating a safe and sustainable space environment through spacecraft maneuverability.
“In today’s space environment, you need to be able to maneuver if there’s going to be a close approach,” McGillis said. “The CDMs can come in at a three-day or even seven-day notice, which would give you time to maneuver. But a risk still remains because some satellites on-orbit today don’t have the capability to maneuver, which begs the question about whether policy or regulations need to change to require spacecraft maneuverability.”
In the meantime, TraCSS is seeking industry input to further augment its effort with other commercial capabilities that can help identify and catalog spacecraft on-orbit through a Collision Avoidance (COLA) Gap Pathfinder program. The COLA Gap Pathfinder program is intended to help tracking efforts adjust to the increased prevalence of “ride-sharing,” or using a single rocket launch to deliver several different types of satellites on-orbit.
“The hardest part is tracking and cataloging those objects after they’ve been released from the rocket,” McGillis said. “When several objects are released on the same launch, it’s hard to discern which object is which – whether that’s satellite number 1001 or satellite number 1002. Bringing in a commercial capability to fill that need is huge because from a safety perspective, you want to detect, identify and catalog spacecraft as quickly as possible. So this is a great mission for the commercial sector to provide capabilities for.”
Space Situational Awareness vs. Space Domain Awareness
Offloading some of the basic space situational awareness capabilities to the commercial sector will also enable the DOD and the Space Force to focus on a similar, but distinct mission area: space domain awareness.
“Space situational awareness is about knowing where a spacecraft is and the path of its trajectory,” McGillis said. “Space domain awareness adds intelligence information from a military perspective. What is the intent of that object? What are its capabilities? Is it hostile or not? What are its behaviors? Is that a bad actor? So you get into more of what is the intent and the capability of that specific object or satellite.”
That’s why the TraCSS program’s design is one of the latest examples of how commercial space capabilities can be leveraged by the government to support national security objectives.
“The government doesn’t want to build something that’s going to be costly, when they can just buy the same product or service directly from the commercial market,” McGillis said. “The way TraCSS is currently organized is in line with serving both national security and economic purposes. It uses commercial innovation to supplement government data and provide warning to those commercial space operators. It’s not unlike how the government manages air traffic control by first providing that data infrastructure and then supplementing that with commercial resources.”
Opportunities for International Collaboration
In serving both space situational awareness and space domain awareness missions, however, the need for a space traffic system also requires collaboration with international partners.
“Space is global – it’s got civil, commercial and a variety of international government assets,” McGillis said. “It’s important that we engage our international partners, so that they understand the capability TraCSS brings to the domain. Likewise, we can coordinate our data with other space traffic systems like the European Union’s Space Surveillance and Tracking program that takes both national military data, but also commercial data. That coordination between the EUSST and TraCSS is a great example of opportunities for international collaboration.”
Similarly, the need to establish data-sharing standards and other norms of behavior through international collaboration further reinforces the strategic imperative that the United States be the leader in space traffic management. As it stands today, there is no single, standardized global space traffic system.
“The inherently dual-nature of space between civil and national security means some countries are not going to want to share their space tracking data to protect a national prerogative,” McGillis said. “China doesn’t share their information with us today, so the only way to track their satellites is through the capabilities that we have today – like TraCSS. So, the United States must take the lead on setting data-sharing standards and establishing norms of behavior, because even when an owner-operator shares their asset’s location, their data format may not be the same.”
TraCSS as a Foundation for Future Space Capabilities
In turn, the emergence of a leading space traffic system like TraCSS will enable a foundation for future space capabilities and mission areas that serve both economic and national security purposes.
“TraCSS is the first step toward a future where spacecraft have the capability to do an ‘RPO,’ or rendezvous in proximity,” McGillis said. “Having a satellite come up to another satellite is an inherently complex mission that requires very exquisite data. But if you can accomplish an RPO effectively, that unlocks opportunities for capabilities like in-space assembly and manufacturing, orbital maneuverability and re-fueling, as well as cleaning up debris on-orbit. TraCSS can provide a foundation for those innovative space capabilities to emerge.”
In support of the increasingly vital, but inherently complex challenge of space traffic serves as the latest mission area where Elara Nova’s team of experts are uniquely positioned to strengthen government and commercial efforts.
“Elara Nova brings that voice to all the space conversations that we have, whether it’s in the commercial or government sector,” McGillis said. “Elara Nova can help commercial businesses understand what TraCSS is about and the capabilities that it provides. Whether you’re building a propulsion system or whether you’re launching satellites, you need to understand where you are in space. Everybody has a role in keeping space safe, and we need U.S. leadership in creating this foundational tracking system not only for our economy, but also for our national security.”
Elara Nova is a global consultancy and professional services firm focused on helping businesses and government agencies maximize the strategic advantages of the space domain. Learn more at https://elaranova.com/.