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Title: Please Don't Cut Funds For Space Traffic Control, Industry Begs
Congress

Link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/07/12/0...

Major space industry players -- including SpaceX, Boeing, and Blue Origin --
are urging Congress to maintain funding for the TraCSS space traffic
coordination program, warning that eliminating it would endanger satellite
safety and potentially drive companies abroad. Under the proposed FY 2026
budget, the Office of Space Commerce's funding would be cut from $65 million
to just $10 million. "That $55M cut is accomplished by eliminating the
Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS) program," reports The
Register. From the report: "One of OSC's most important functions is to
provide space traffic coordination support to US satellite operators, similar
to the Federal Aviation Administration's role in air traffic control," stated
letters from space companies including SpaceX, Boeing, Blue Origin, and
others. The letters argue that safe space operations "in an increasingly
congested space domain" are critical for modern services like broadband
satellite internet and weather forecasting, but that's not all. "Likewise, a
safe space operating environment is vital for continuity of national security
space missions such as early warning of missile attacks on deployed US
military forces," the letters added. Industry trade groups sent the letters
to the Democratic and Republican leadership of the House and Senate budget
subcommittees for Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, claiming
to represent more than 450 US companies in the space, satellite, and defense
sectors. The letters argue for the retention of the OSC's FY 2025 budget of
$65 million, as well as keeping control of space traffic coordination within
the purview of the Department of Commerce, under which the OSC is nested, and
not the Department of Defense, where it was previously managed. "Successive
administrations have recognized on a bipartisan basis that space traffic
coordination is a global, commercial-facing function best managed by a
civilian agency," the companies explained. "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." In the budget request document, the government explained
the Commerce Department was unable to complete "a government owned and
operated public-facing database and traffic coordination system" in a timely
manner. The private sector, meanwhile, "has proven they have the capability
and the business model to provide civil operators" with the necessary space
tracking data. But according to the OSC, TraCSS would have been ready for
operations by January 2026, raising the question of why the government would
kill the program so late in the game.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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