118 S3658 IS: Situational Awareness of Flying Elements in Orbit Act U.S. Senate 2024-01-25 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

II118th CONGRESS2d SessionS. 3658IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATESJanuary 25, 2024Mr. Cornyn (for himself, Mr. Peters, Ms. Sinema, Mrs. Blackburn, Mr. Schmitt, Mr. Kelly, and Mr. Wicker) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and TransportationA BILLTo promote space situational awareness and space traffic coordination and to modify the functions and leadership of the Office of Space Commerce, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Situational Awareness of Flying Elements in Orbit Act or the SAFE Orbit Act.

2.

Space situational awareness and space traffic coordination

(a)

In general

The Secretary of Commerce shall facilitate safe operations in space and encourage the development of commercial space capabilities by acquiring and disseminating unclassified data, analytics, information, and services on space activities.(b)

Immunity

The United States, any agencies and instrumentalities thereof, and any individuals, firms, corporations, and other persons acting for the United States, including nongovernmental entities, shall be immune from any suit in any court for any cause of action arising from the provision or receipt of space situational awareness services or information, whether or not provided in accordance with this section, or any related action or omission.(c)

Acquisition of data

The Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Space Commerce (established under section 50702(b) of title 51, United States Code, as amended by section 3) is authorized to acquire—(1)data, analytics, information, and services, including with respect to—(A)location tracking data;(B)positional and orbit determination information; and(C)conjunction data messages; and(2)such other data, analytics, information, and services as the Secretary of Commerce determines necessary to avoid collisions of space objects.(d)

Database on satellite location and behavior

The Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Space Commerce shall provide access for the public, at no charge, a fully updated, unclassified database of information concerning space objects and behavior that includes—(1)the data and information acquired under subsection (c), except to the extent that such data or information is classified or a trade secret (as defined in section 1839 of title 18, United States Code); and(2)the provision of basic space situational awareness services and space traffic coordination based on the data referred to in paragraph (1), including basic analytics, tracking calculations, and conjunction data messages.(e)

Basic space situational awareness services

The Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Space Commerce—(1)shall provide to satellite operators, at no charge, basic space situational awareness services, including the data, analytics, information, and services described in subsection (c);(2)in carrying out paragraph (1), may not compete with private sector space situational awareness products, to the maximum extent practicable; and (3)not less frequently than every 3 years, shall review the basic space situational awareness services described in paragraph (1) to ensure that such services provided by the Federal Government do not compete with space situational awareness services offered by the private sector.(f)

Requirements for data acquisition and dissemination

In acquiring data, analytics, information, and services under subsection (c) and disseminating data, analytics, information, and services under subsections (d) and (e), the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Space Commerce shall—(1)leverage commercial capabilities to the maximum extent practicable;(2)prioritize the acquisition of data, analytics, information, and services from commercial industry located in or licensed in the United States to supplement data collected by United States Government agencies, including the Department of Defense and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration;(3)appropriately protect proprietary data, information, and systems of firms located in the United States, including by using appropriate infrastructure and cybersecurity measures, including measures set forth in the most recent version of the Cybersecurity Framework, or successor document, maintained by the National Institute of Standards and Technology;(4)facilitate the development of standardization and consistency in data reporting, in collaboration with satellite owners and operators, commercial space situational awareness data and service providers, the academic community, nonprofit organizations, and the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology; and(5)encourage foreign governments to participate in unclassified data sharing arrangements for space situational awareness and space traffic coordination.(g)

Other transaction authority

In carrying out the activities required by this section, the Secretary of Commerce shall enter into such contracts, leases, cooperative agreements, or other transactions as may be necessary.(h)

Space object defined

In this section, the term space object means any object launched into space, or created in space, robotically or by humans, including an object’s component parts.

3.

Office of Space Commerce

(a)

Location of Office

Subsection (a) of section 50702 of title 51, United States Code, is amended by inserting before the end period the following: , which, not later than 5 years after the date of the enactment of the SAFE Orbit Act, shall organizationally reside within the Office of the Secretary of Commerce.(b)

Additional functions of Office

Subsection (c) of such section is amended—(1)in paragraph (4), by striking ; and and inserting a semicolon;(2)in paragraph (5), by striking the period at the end and inserting a semicolon; and(3)by adding at the end the following:(6)to perform space situational awareness and space traffic management duties pursuant to the SAFE Orbit Act..(c)

Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Space Commerce

(1)

In general

Subsection (b) of such section is amended to read as follows:(b)

Assistant Secretary

The Office shall be headed by the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Space Commerce, who shall—(1)be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate;(2)report directly to the Secretary of Commerce; and(3)have a rate of pay that is equal to the rate payable for level IV of the Executive Schedule under section 5315 of title 5..(2)

Conforming amendments

(A)Section 50702(d) of title 51, United States Code, is amended—(i)in the subsection heading, by striking Director and inserting Assistant Secretary; and(ii)in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking Director and inserting Assistant Secretary.(B)Section 5315 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by striking Assistant Secretaries of Commerce (11) and inserting Assistant Secretaries of Commerce (12).(3)

References

On and after the date of the enactment of this Act, any reference in any law or regulation to the Director of the Office of Space Commerce shall be deemed to be a reference to the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Space Commerce. (d)

Transition report

Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Commerce shall submit to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of Representatives a report that sets forth transition and continuity of operations plans for the functional and administrative transfer of the Office of Space Commerce from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to the Office of the Secretary of Commerce.