Taylor Brooks
SpaceX has joined the Traffic Coordination System for Space, or TraCSS, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Space Commerce as a beta user. NOAA announced Monday that with the addition of SpaceX, the system’s conjunction and maneuver screening services can be better validated at scale.
The agency plans to fully launch the system in 2026.
The other satellite operators that are testing the system include NOAA itself, Maxar, Telesat, Intelsat, the Georgia Institute of Technology, Planet Labs, Eutelsat OneWeb, Iridium and the Aerospace Corporation, which receive alerts called conjunction data messages, or CDMs, when their satellites are at risk of collision.
What Is the Traffic Coordination System for Space?
TraCSS, which had its initial version released in September 2024, works to provide private and civil space operators with data and services regarding space situational awareness. The system’s first version issued CDMs to beta users via Space-Track.org while subsequent updates enabled the system to deliver the alerts directly via TraCSS application programming interfaces.
In May, NOAA OSC released TraCSS Program Increment 1.2, which allows users to submit ephemerides for conjunction analysis. The submissions, which can be made on-demand and in bulk, are expected to result in an analysis within five minutes.
The system was created in line with President Donald Trump’s Space Policy Directive 3, which directs the Department of Commerce to lead space traffic safety efforts.
