The U.S. Department of Commerce plays a significant role in the space industry through its Office of Space Commerce (OSC). The OSC is responsible for fostering the economic growth and technological advancement of the U.S. commercial space industry by coordinating policy, streamlining regulations, and providing space situational awareness services, including the development of the Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS). The Department also works to promote U.S. space products and services internationally, supporting companies like SpaceX in securing contracts and modernizing space-related export controls through the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). Key partners include NASA, NOAA, and various international entities.
All verified mentions of this organization in source documents.
The SPACE Act authorizes $15,000,000 for the Office of Space Commerce for fiscal year 2021, matching the amount requested by the Commerce Department in its budget proposal.
The Commerce Department requested $15,000,000 for the Office of Space Commerce in its fiscal year 2021 budget proposal with the bulk of the funding designated for space traffic management work.
A House spending bill passed in July 2020 rejected the Commerce Department’s $15,000,000 Office of Space Commerce request pending a final report requested by a fiscal year 2020 spending bill to examine which agency was best suited for civil space traffic management.
Space Policy Directive 3, signed in June 2018, called for the Commerce Department, through its Office of Space Commerce, to take on civil space traffic management responsibilities then handled by the Department of Defense.
The National Academy of Public Administration published a report on 2020-08-20 concluding that the Commerce Department was the best agency for civil space traffic management compared to NASA, the Department of Defense, and the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation.
The Commerce Department requested $15,000,000 for the Office of Space Commerce in its fiscal year 2021 budget proposal, with most of that funding intended for space traffic management.
AXA XL’s global head of space is Chris Kunstadter, who supported the Commerce Department taking a leadership role in space safety and sustainability.
Some congressional appropriators were skeptical of the Commerce Department’s capability to handle space traffic management and requested the NAPA study instead of providing the funding the department sought to start STM activities.
The National Academy of Public Administration released a report on 2020-08-20 concluding that the Commerce Department’s Office of Space Commerce was best suited to take on civil space traffic management and ranked it ahead of NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Department of Defense.
A table in the NAPA report, using data provided by the Commerce Department, projected space traffic management efforts to grow from $15,000,000 in fiscal year 2021 to as high as $72,100,000 in 2024.
The Commerce Department requested $10,000,000 for the Office of Space Commerce in 2020 but received $2,300,000 for that office in 2020.
The Commerce Department requested $15,000,000 for the Office of Space Commerce in its 2021 budget proposal, with most of that funding intended for space traffic management.
Space Policy Directive 3, issued by the White House in 2018, directed that civil space traffic management responsibilities be assigned to the Commerce Department’s Office of Space Commerce.
The Department of Commerce will routinely review the 0.4 m finding and invites the public to provide evidence of availability of commercial imagery over Israel at a finer resolution than 0.4 m.
AGI, ExoAnalytic Solutions, and LeoLabs track satellites using optical telescopes or radars and are part of the Commerce Department’s approach to implementing SPD-3.
The FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation had been developing space traffic management concepts for several years prior to the assignment of civil STM responsibility to the Commerce Department under SPD-3.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross visited AGI headquarters outside Philadelphia on 2020-06-18 for a briefing on commercial space traffic management efforts.
The 2020 appropriations bill required the Commerce Department to fund a National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) study to examine which organization is best suited to carry out civil space traffic management.
The Commerce Department continues to seek additional funding from Congress to implement SPD-3 and become fully operational with its open architecture platform.
The Commerce Department sought to combine the Office of Space Commerce with NOAA’s Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs (CRSRA) office in its 2020 budget proposal and requested $10,000,000 for the combined office.