The Urgency to Act on Space Traffic Management

Over the last ten years, the United States government has worked on developing a national system for space traffic management (STM). Beginning with the Obama Administration in 2010, three successive U.S. administrations have examined this issue and concluded that it is of national importance. With the issuance of Space Policy Directive 3 by the Trump Administration in June 2018 ,the U.S. finally has a national policy on STM. However, key elements of that policy remain unimplemented by the Executive Branch or Congress. Meanwhile, the pace of commercial space activities has continued to accelerate, raising serious questions about whether the U.S. is falling behind and losing ground in the international discussion on the future of space governance. 

To discuss these issues, SWF partnered with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) to hold a virtual panel discussion on why it's critical for the United States to continue efforts to implement STM.  Dr. Weeden opened the panel by providing a short overview of the changes in the space domain that were driving this need and the policy actions and studies done so far on STM. The expert panel highlighted the need to continue moving civil space situational awareness capabilities from the Department of Defense to the Office of Space Commerce (OSC), elevate OSC out of its current position within the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), give OSC Mission Authorization authority to provide oversight of new and emerging commercial space activities, and properly resource and fund OSC's efforts. 

Moderator: Brian Weeden, SWF Director of Program Planning

Speakers:

• Mr. Mike Gold, Executive Vice President for Civil Space and External Affairs at Redwire Space
• Mr. Ken Hodgkins, President, International Space Enterprise Consultants
• Dr. Diane Howard, Vice President, International Institute of Space Law and Principal, sur l’espace PLLC

A video recording of the event can be found here.