NOAA’s Office of Space Commerce (OSC) and SpaceX have entered into a no-exchange-of-funds Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) for R&D activities related to automated collision avoidance and satellite conjunction assessment screenings.
Under the terms of this CRADA, OSC will perform an astrodynamics evaluation of SpaceX software.
As the Federal agency responsible for providing civil space situational awareness (SSA), OSC is standing up a modern SSA system – the Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS) – and engaging satellite owners and operators on best practices, standards, and processes for long-term space safety and sustainability. This CRADA’s research efforts will assist OSC in developing capabilities to deconflict and manage the increasingly crowded orbital environment.
OSC is moving out on a variety of commercial partnerships to accelerate development of TraCSS. In addition to working with SpaceX under the CRADA, the office recently placed orders with three commercial SSA companies to support a Consolidated Pathfinder for TraCSS. The office plans to announce additional partnering opportunities in the near future.
