NOAA’s Office of Space Commerce Efforts to Provide Space Situational Awareness Services Have Been Delayed and Need a Realistic Schedule

Objects orbiting Earth such as satellites and debris continue to increase in number, making space contested and congested. Preventing collisions is crucial to protecting the safety of space activities and assets. In June 2018, the White House issued Space Policy Directive-3, National Space Traffic Management Policy (SPD‑3), acknowledging that the number of space objects was increasing while the activity and architecture to ensure space safety, including existing traffic management activities, was becoming inadequate. Currently, the Department of Defense (DOD) is providing basic space situational awareness data and potential collision notifications to space operators. SPD‑3 directs the transfer of certain responsibilities for providing data and services from DOD to the Department of Commerce, specifically to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) Office of Space Commerce (OSC), which is responsible for the coordination of space-related issues, programs, and initiatives within the Department. Our audit objective was to assess OSC’s progress in providing space situational awareness data and space traffic management services in accordance with SPD-3. We found that (1) OSC is behind schedule in providing basic space situational awareness data and services and (2) a new approach to space traffic management is not yet defined and remains a distant goal. We made five recommendations to help OSC develop a realistic program timeline and meet its SPD-3 responsibilities.