by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) May 20, 2024
LeoLabs has received a second Consolidated Pathfinder order from NOAA's Office of Space Commerce (OSC) to support the development of the civil-led U.S. Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS).
This order allows LeoLabs to continue assisting with TraCSS as the OSC extends the live data collection period of the pathfinder project. The extension aims to explore opportunities to improve performance and conduct further analysis for metric validation. During this time, the OSC will continue to use LeoLabs' expertise, artificial intelligence techniques, and the largest commercial dataset of over 20,000 objects and millions of daily conjunction data messages.
This extension builds on the success of the previous data collection period, during which the team confirmed data flows and conducted object tasking using the mission planning tool.
"This announcement is a positive development towards ensuring the U.S. Traffic Coordination System for Space meets the safety needs of the growing space economy," said LeoLabs Chief Executive Officer Tony Frazier. "LeoLabs is proud to deliver our commercial expertise, data, and services to this monumental effort to rapidly deploy a U.S. civil space traffic coordination system."
The Consolidated Pathfinder is part of a series of projects aimed at supporting the development of TraCSS by exploring how commercial Space Situational Awareness (SSA) capabilities can be tested and integrated.
This order shows the rapid progress made by the US Government in developing this system and fulfilling Space Policy Directive-3 (SPD-3), which calls for a national Space Traffic Management (STM) service managed by a civil government agency. The US is not only demonstrating its leadership in space safety but is also supporting the space industry by integrating commercial solutions.
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