Space News by Jason Rainbow January 31, 2024
The Office of Space Commerce (OSC) has entered into a research partnership to explore how SpaceX’s automated satellite collision avoidance software could support plans for a civil space traffic coordination system.
The federal agency will perform an astrodynamics evaluation of the tools SpaceX uses to manage more than 5,000 Starlink broadband satellites as part of the agreement, including the company’s low Earth orbit (LEO) conjunction assessment screenings.
The partnership is structured as a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA), OSC announced Jan. 31, a contract with terms allowing the sharing of facilities without exchanging funds.
“SpaceX is advancing the state of the art in space operations, using software in support of automated collision avoidance to safely manage thousands of satellites at a time,” OSC director Richard DalBello said in a statement.
“We are excited to be partnering with them to evaluate their software as a tool for enhancing space safety and sustainability.”
More:
https://spacenews.com/office-of-space-commerce-seeks-spacexs-constellation-coordination-expertise/
