The U.S. Space Force has historically shared conjunction data with satellite operators, warning them when two objects in orbit may pass close together. The Commerce Department’s Office of Space Commerce (OSC) is building the Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS) to provide basic space situational awareness (SSA) data to civil and commercial operators. Space traffic management starts from those warnings.
Density and speed are what make the warnings matter. The European Space Agency (ESA) regularly tracks about 28,160 objects, about 4,000 of them intact operational satellites. NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office (ODPO) puts average impact speed at about 10 kilometers per second, and ESA estimates that doubling the number of objects would raise collision risk about four times.
What Space Traffic Management Is
Space traffic management covers who tells satellite operators that two objects might collide and what happens after the warning arrives. Historically, the U.S. Space Force shared that conjunction data. Our explainers on space domain awareness and US Space Command cover the military side of that work.
A second source is coming online. The Office of Space Commerce, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) within the U.S. Department of Commerce, is developing TraCSS. Its stated aim is to provide “basic space situational awareness (SSA) data and services” to civil and private operators to support spaceflight safety.
TraCSS implements direction in Space Policy Directive 3. The OSC page does not itself call TraCSS a space traffic management system. On OrbitalIntel, we use space traffic management for the wider job, including who acts on a warning, and SSA for the tracking data underneath it.
The size of the job shows in ESA’s counts. Subtract ESA’s roughly 4,000 intact operational satellites from its roughly 28,160 regularly tracked objects, and about 24,160 tracked objects remain that are not intact operational satellites.
Space Situational Awareness vs Space Traffic Management
Space situational awareness is the tracking data layer, and space traffic management is the set of decisions built on it. OSC’s own wording places TraCSS on the SSA side. The table below sets out how the two terms line up against the public sources.
| Criterion | Space situational awareness (SSA) | Space traffic management (STM) |
|---|---|---|
| Question it answers | Where are tracked objects, and might two pass close? | Who acts on a warning, and how do operators coordinate? |
| How OSC uses the term for TraCSS | “Basic SSA data and services” | Not used on the OSC TraCSS page |
| Public test material | Dataset for Conjunction Assessment Verification, March 18, 2026 | None listed in the sources used here |
| Example from the sources | ESA regularly tracking about 28,160 objects | NASA moving the ISS when collision chance exceeds 1 in 10,000 |
| Verdict | The data | The decisions made with the data |
Use “SSA” when you mean tracking information and close-approach calculations. Use “space traffic management” when the discussion turns to who moves, who coordinates, and who sets the rules. When you read any service description, including OSC’s, hold it to the narrower term it actually uses.
Conjunction Warnings and Who Issues Them
A conjunction warning tells an operator that their satellite and another object are predicted to pass close together. The U.S. Space Force has historically been the source of shared conjunction data. The Office of Space Commerce is building TraCSS to provide basic SSA data to civil and commercial operators.
On March 18, 2026, OSC published a public Dataset for Conjunction Assessment Verification. Its purpose is to help SSA providers test their algorithms against a common set of data.
NASA’s published rule for the International Space Station (ISS) is a clear example: the station maneuvers if the chance of collision exceeds 1 in 10,000. NASA ODPO says that happens about once a year on average.
NASA ODPO puts the average impact speed at about 10 kilometers per second. For how the fragments behind these warnings accumulate, see our guide to space debris.
TraCSS at the Office of Space Commerce
TraCSS is the Office of Space Commerce’s system for giving civil and private operators basic SSA data and services, built under direction in Space Policy Directive 3. The OSC page reports this status as of August 2026:
- 82 Pilot User Organizations had onboarded over 11,370 satellites.
- 10 National Government Accounts were open: Australia, Brazil, Egypt, Finland, Germany, Norway, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
- Owner/operators and governments began registering directly through the TraCSS webpage in early 2026.
- National Government Account onboarding began June 9, 2026.
- The public Dataset for Conjunction Assessment Verification was published March 18, 2026.
The pilot figures work out to about 139 satellites per organization on average (11,370 ÷ 82). OSC does not publish how that count splits across organizations, so the average says nothing about any single user.
Two limits on the OSC page shape how an operator can use the service. OSC provides TraCSS “as is,” without warranties, including no warranty that the data will be error free or that access will be uninterrupted. The page also does not list specific data products.
Plan around both limits. Treat TraCSS data as one input to a maneuver decision, and write down in advance what your team does if access drops. Before relying on any specific output, read the current terms on the TraCSS page.
Commercial Tracking Services alongside TraCSS
Commercial tracking providers exist alongside TraCSS, which OSC describes as a government-provided basic service. One question is whether commercial tracking is replacing government data. The public sources used for this explainer do not answer that question, and this page does not name, rank, or value any company.
The sources do show how OSC positions itself. It frames TraCSS as “basic” SSA data and services. Its verification dataset is aimed at SSA providers, which gives any provider common data to test conjunction algorithms against.
If you are comparing TraCSS with a commercial service, ask each one the same three questions:
- Which specific data products does the service list? The OSC TraCSS page does not list any.
- What warranty covers accuracy and uptime? TraCSS comes “as is,” with no warranty of error-free data or uninterrupted access.
- Has the provider tested its conjunction algorithms against OSC’s March 18, 2026 verification dataset?
See also our explainer on space insurance.
Collision Avoidance Burden on Operators
ESA’s 2025 Space Environment Report counts roughly 300,000 collision-avoidance maneuvers by Starlink in 2025. That figure was up 50 percent from 2024. Working backward, 300,000 ÷ 1.5 gives roughly 200,000 maneuvers in 2024, an increase of about 100,000 in one year.
The ISS sits at the other end of the scale. NASA’s 1 in 10,000 threshold triggers a station maneuver about once a year on average.
Collision risk rises faster than the object count. ESA’s estimate is that doubling the number of objects increases collision risk approximately four times.
Open Questions in Space Traffic Management
Several parts of space traffic management are not settled by the public sources used here.
- International rules. The sources do not establish whether space traffic management is regulated internationally. The 10 National Government Accounts show participation in a U.S. data service, which is a separate matter from binding rules.
- The scope of TraCSS. OSC does not list specific TraCSS data products, and its page does not call TraCSS a space traffic management system.
- Government and commercial roles. TraCSS is a government-provided basic service and commercial providers also exist. The sources do not describe how the two will divide the work.
- Reliability. OSC offers no warranty that TraCSS data will be error free or that access will be uninterrupted.
Our SSA and STM split would change if OSC published a list of TraCSS data products or began describing TraCSS as a traffic management system. If either happens, we will update this page to match OSC’s wording.
If you operate a satellite, read the terms and registration steps on the TraCSS page before you build its data into your space traffic management process.