[Senate Hearing 117-802]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]






                                                        S. Hrg. 117-802

               SPACE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS, SPACE TRAFFIC
   MANAGEMENT, AND ORBITAL DEBRIS: EXAMINING SOLUTIONS FOR EMERGING 
                                THREATS

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                               before the

                   SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE AND SCIENCE

                                 of the

                         COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE,
                      SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
                          UNITED STATES SENATE

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             FIRST SESSION

                               __________

                             JULY 22, 2021

                               __________

    Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
                             Transportation







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       SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION

                    ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS

                             FIRST SESSION

                   MARIA CANTWELL, Washington, Chair
AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota             ROGER WICKER, Mississippi, Ranking
RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut      JOHN THUNE, South Dakota
BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii                 ROY BLUNT, Missouri
EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts         TED CRUZ, Texas
GARY PETERS, Michigan                DEB FISCHER, Nebraska
TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin             JERRY MORAN, Kansas
TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois            DAN SULLIVAN, Alaska
JON TESTER, Montana                  MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee
KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona              TODD YOUNG, Indiana
JACKY ROSEN, Nevada                  MIKE LEE, Utah
BEN RAY LUJAN, New Mexico            RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
JOHN HICKENLOOPER, Colorado          SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, West 
RAPHAEL WARNOCK, Georgia                 Virginia
                                     RICK SCOTT, Florida
                                     CYNTHIA LUMMIS, Wyoming
                    David Strickland, Staff Director
                 Melissa Porter, Deputy Staff Director
       George Greenwell, Policy Coordinator and Security Manager
                 John Keast, Republican Staff Director
            Crystal Tully, Republican Deputy Staff Director
                      Steven Wall, General Counsel
                                 ------                                

                   SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE AND SCIENCE

JOHN HICKENLOOPER, Colorado, Chair   CYNTHIA LUMMIS, Wyoming, Ranking
RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut      TED CRUZ, Texas
GARY PETERS, Michigan                DEB FISCHER, Nebraska
KYRSTEN SINEMA, Arizona,             TODD YOUNG, Indiana
BEN RAY LUJAN, New Mexico            MIKE LEE, Utah
RAPHAEL WARNOCK, Georgia             RICK SCOTT, Florida
EDWARD MARKEY, Massachusetts         JERRY MORAN, Kansas   























                            C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              
                                                                   Page
Hearing held on July 22, 2021....................................     1
Statement of Senator Hickenlooper................................     1
Statement of Senator Lummis......................................     4
Statement of Senator Blumenthal..................................    44
Statement of Senator Scott.......................................    46
Statement of Senator Cantwell....................................    51
Statement of Senator Young.......................................    52

                               Witnesses

Karina Drees, President, Commercial Spaceflight Federation.......     5
    Prepared statement...........................................     7
Kevin M. O'Connell, Founder and CEO, Space Economy Rising, LLC...    10
    Prepared statement...........................................    12
Dr. Marcus J. Holzinger, H. Joseph Smead Faculty Fellow, 
  Associate Professor, Ann & H. J. Smead Aerospace Engineering 
  Sciences Department, University of Colorado Boulder............    17
    Prepared statement...........................................    18
Paul Graziani, Co-Founder, Analytical Graphics, Inc., and Chief 
  Executive Officer, COMSPOC Corp................................    22
    Prepared statement...........................................    33
Tom Stroup, President, Satellite Industry Association............    36
    Prepared statement...........................................    38

                                Appendix

Response to written questions submitted to Karina Drees by:
    Hon. Maria Cantwell..........................................    57
    Hon. Edward Markey...........................................    58
    Hon. Ben Ray Lujan...........................................    58
    Hon. Raphael Warnock.........................................    59
Response to written questions submitted to Dr. Marcus J. 
  Holzinger by:
    Hon. Maria Cantwell..........................................    60
    Hon. Kyrsten Sinema..........................................    61
Response to written question submitted to Tom Stroup by:
    Hon. Raphael Warnock.........................................    62
    Hon. Shelley Moore Capito....................................    64

 
                      SPACE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS, 
                     SPACE TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT, AND 
        ORBITAL DEBRIS: EXAMINING SOLUTIONS FOR EMERGING THREATS 

                              ----------                              


                        THURSDAY, JULY 22, 2021

                               U.S. Senate,
                 Subcommittee on Science and Space,
        Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m., in 
room SR-253, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. John 
Hickenlooper, Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding.
    Present: Senators Hickenlooper [presiding], Blumenthal, 
Cantwell, Lummis, Young, and Scott.

         OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN HICKENLOOPER, 
                   U.S. SENATOR FROM COLORADO

    Senator Hickenlooper. We call this meeting to order. Please 
be seated. Good gracious. In my opinion, it should be us 
standing for you and you should all be aware--well, several 
things.
    One, even though there's not a Full Committee room of 
people, you can see we are Zooming this too, I think, the 
majority of the Commerce Committee which is, as you can see, a 
large committee are looking in. I think every staff--there's a 
staff member from every Commerce Committee and a number of 
other Senators watching, not to mention millions at home or 
not.
    I also should give fair warning that this is my first 
committee hearing that I get to chair as the Chair of the Space 
and Science Subcommittee of the Commerce Committee. So you'll 
have to take your own risks with that.
    When they told me I was going to get to chair this 
committee, my Communications staff said I should not say it, 
but I was over the moon in that sense of----
    [Laughter.]
    Senator Hickenlooper.--this is something that's important 
not only to Colorado but something that I have had a passion 
and interest in for a long time.
    It's ironic that this first meeting is on Space Trash 
because it sounds somewhat dismissive and yet, as you all know, 
this is one of the most important things that we're facing and 
I think there is by necessity and what I hope comes out of this 
meeting is a sense of urgency around that.
    I think this really is a pivotal time and the potential for 
catastrophic accidents if we continue with the status quo is 
real and I think demands action on the part of this committee.
    This discussion today is going to be examining Space 
Situational Awareness, SSA. I'll try and go back and forth 
between saying Space Situational Awareness and SSA so we don't 
get buried in acronyms, Space Traffic Management, STM, and then 
Managing Orbital Debris.
    Space Situational Awareness, of course, protects valuable 
Federal and commercial assets. It allows us to track and notify 
satellite operators of optical orbit and when there are issues.
    We need space situational awareness to coordinate the space 
traffic management and coordinate satellite operator 
activities, exactly what they're doing, and make sure that we 
avoid collisions through appropriate notification.
    A number of reports estimate over 4,000 active satellites 
in orbit, but I think the more perplexing numbers are roughly 
or well over 100 million pieces of orbital debris that threaten 
the entire space ecosystem.
    I could go down a long list but GPS, weather forecasting, 
telecommunications, all manner of scientific research rely on 
satellites in orbit. Safe environment in low orbit is critical 
to almost every facet of the space industry and its potential 
growth, and as activity in space is increasing, we see 
increased satellite launches for both scientific research and 
for commerce.
    This committee has and will continue its critical oversight 
role in space traffic management, STM, space situational 
awareness, SSA, and mitigating orbital debris.
    We have numerous examples of collisions in space, some of 
which have been catastrophic. 2007, a Chinese weapons 
demonstration left over 3,000 debris objects moving through 
space at high speeds. 2009, U.S. satellite collision with 
Russian satellite created 1,800 debris objects at least, and 
since 1999, the International Space Station conducted 29 debris 
avoidance maneuvers, and there were three in 2020 alone.
    Certainly I think, and you all understand this, we can't 
wait for the next collision to occur before taking action. The 
groundwork has begun. 2018 Space Policy Directive 3, SPD-3, if 
you're taking notes at home, made a few things clear on who's 
responsible for what in addressing this problem.
    The Department of Commerce was to assume all civil space 
situational awareness duties from the Department of Defense. 
NASA was to update its Orbital Debris Mitigation Standards, and 
the Departments of Commerce, Transportation, the FCC were to 
update their licensing processes for satellite launches.
    In Fiscal Year 2021 Appropriations, Commerce Committee took 
further action. They doubled the budget of the Office of Space 
Commerce and I use that word ``doubled the budget'' with a 
certain amount of significance and reflecting the urgency and 
the critical nature of what we're talking about today, required 
pilot program for Space Traffic Management Data base.
    The work of Ranking Member Wicker, who will be here, if 
he's not here yet but will be here, I'm sure staff is watching, 
and Chairwoman Cantwell, who will be here eventually, as well, 
on the Space Act is commendable.
    The Act codifies Commerce Department STM duties in SPD-3, 
establishes the Centers of Excellence to advance scientific 
policy and research in SSA, as well.
    The Space Act passed the Commerce Committee twice, recently 
passed the Full Senate in the U.S. Innovation Competition Act, 
USICA, also called the Endless Frontier Act, my preferred name, 
clearly demonstrated that we do need swift action and that part 
of that immediately is to enact USICA and the Space Act into 
law.
    The Biden Administration is still implementing aspects of 
SPD-3. So I think continued committee oversight is appropriate 
and important. We need to maintain our leadership in space. 
Every one of you understands that.
    A big part of this must include space traffic management. 
The lack of international rules of the road is a serious 
problem. The regulatory regimes demand attention. They demand 
serious attention.
    The European Union, Russia, China, they're all developing 
their own STM frameworks, which again how we are able to lead 
on this and make sure that we set an appropriate framework so 
that our interests aren't overruled I think is critically 
important. We need to recognize the importance to our space 
interests in this. So we need to make sure these writings of 
regulations are from the outset.
    Other issues, obviously international liability law when it 
applies to negligence but would not necessarily apply to a lack 
of response to a collision alert. There's a significant amount 
of R&D necessary to modernize our space situational awareness 
systems. Collision alerts could be inaccurate, and I think that 
again this just brings back the urgency of tracking and 
constant tracking that needs to be for all objects.
    There's limited ability of spacecraft to maneuver and so 
that underscores the importance of both SSA and STM and 
noticeably Space Act dedicates funding to SSA and R&D.
    The Department of Commerce has full support of the 
subcommittee to carry out its STM and SSA duties swiftly and 
certainly we look forward to hearing testimony from the witness 
panel on issues about how to advance U.S. leadership in space, 
how to protect Federal and commercial interests with space 
traffic management.
    Again, I re-emphasize how grateful we are for you to take 
time here today.
    We have witnesses today. I take parochial privilege to 
recognize first Professor Holzinger from the University of 
Colorado in Boulder. He has been a thought leader on STM and 
SSA and all manner of space-related topics. He led the 2019 
Office of Space Commerce Workshop of SSA at the NIST Campus in 
Boulder.
    We also have Karina Drees of Commercial Spaceflight 
Federation. Commercial space companies are represented by 
Spaceflight Federation. We have a number of companies in 
Colorado, but these companies are all over the United States. 
This is truly broadly a national issue and she can speak on 
industry activity with Federal agencies, in-space servicing of 
satellites, benefits to society of safe access to low earth 
orbit. We've seen some examples of that in recent days.
    Then we have Kevin O'Connell of Space Economy Rising. He 
was Director of the Office of Space Commerce under the previous 
Administration. His views on U.S. leadership focus on space 
safety sustainability.
    Then Paul Graziani of COMSPOC Corporation, that's C-O-M-S-
P-O-C, a company focused on SSA and STM, will discuss threats 
and challenges in space environment.
    And then last Tom Stroup, President of Satellite Industry 
Association, represents commercial satellite companies. Again, 
there are a number of Colorado companies but really a number of 
companies all over the country that are represented by the 
Satellite Industry Association.
    So with that, I'll resume my position of being over the 
moon and the opportunity to kick this off. I promise never to 
make that pun again.
    I'd like to recognize Ranking Member Senator Lummis from 
Wyoming for her opening statement.

               STATEMENT OF HON. CYNTHIA LUMMIS, 
                   U.S. SENATOR FROM WYOMING

    Senator Lummis. Well, thank you, Chairman Hickenlooper, and 
I love your tie. I think it's absolutely appropriate. He has 
worn it for this special occasion, our first hearing, and 
really looking forward to working with you on this topic.
    This is going to be a fun committee because of the 
bipartisan nature of space, because of the developments we're 
seeing just in the last week, and we're really very excited to 
join you in addressing some of the issues we're going to begin 
discussing today.
    So welcome, panelists. I'm so pleased that this is our 
first hearing topic. It's timely and important. Space Traffic 
Management, Space Situational Awareness, and Orbital Debris, I 
have no problem being identified as the space junk lady or the 
trash lady,----
    [Laughter.]
    Senator Lummis.--the space trash lady. I think this is an 
important topic for our time.
    It's just great to be Ranking Member on this subcommittee. 
The space sector is evolving so quickly. The civilian flight to 
the edges of space that occurred this week and over the past 
few years, the number of satellites and spaces increased 
dramatically as companies have begun to launch mega 
constellations, just wonderful, exciting time for me to be 
involved in this topic.
    The fact is the space around earth is becoming congested 
and the problem's only going to grow. There are more than 4,000 
satellites in orbit right now, 1,200 of those were launched in 
2020, and we have already surpassed that number in 2021. It's 
estimated that 46,000 new satellites could be launched in the 
next few years.
    In addition to working satellites, Department of Defense is 
tracking 27,000 pieces of space junk. This junk poses huge 
risks to our assets in space. Even the smallest pieces of 
orbital debris, I've learned that even paint flecks, can and 
have caused serious damage. Each collision creates even more 
debris. So this is a problem that compounds on itself.
    More than just tracking and managing orbital debris, we 
must look for ways to prevent it in the first place and for 
companies launching satellites and mega constellations to help 
with solutions to take out the trash and get rid of the junk.
    The innovation that is creating this problem is exciting, 
but the government must take the lead on SSA, STM, and policy 
to prevent and remove orbital debris.
    The previous Administration understood the importance of 
this mission and how the changing nature of the space industry 
necessitated moving some of this responsibility away from the 
Department of Defense. In 2018, the Trump Administration 
published Space Policy Directive 3 to put the responsibility of 
SSA and STM in the hands of the Office of Space Commerce.
    Congress appropriated funds to the Office of Space Commerce 
to create an open architecture data repository to improve SSA 
and STM. In 2020, the National Academy of Public Administration 
released a study recommending the Office of Space Commerce to 
be selected to conduct the SSA/STM Mission.
    I'm concerned that we're now 3 years after SPD-3 was 
published and the Commerce Department has been slow to develop 
the Open Architecture Repository that is desperately needed.
    Instead, it has commissioned more studies to re-examine the 
already-answered question of which U.S. Government agency is 
best suited to take on the task.
    I would add that I'm also concerned that the Administration 
has not announced a director to take over the Office of Space 
Commerce.
    I hope that our hearing today with our distinguished 
panelists will help illuminate the urgency of getting the data 
repository up and running and provide us with information and 
ideas of how to work with the private sector to tackle this 
growing issue.
    So thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, panelists, for 
being here. I yield back.
    Senator Hickenlooper. Thank you, Senator Lummis. I 
appreciate your comments but also all your time and effort 
being the Ranking Member of this subcommittee.
    Now I think we go to--I know that--well, let's go with your 
opening statements and we'll start with Ms. Drees.

             STATEMENT OF KARINA DREES, PRESIDENT, 
               COMMERCIAL SPACEFLIGHT FEDERATION

    Ms. Drees. Thank you.
    Chair Cantwell, Chair Hickenlooper, Ranking Member Wicker, 
Ranking Member Lummis, and Distinguished Members of the 
Committee, thank you for inviting the Commercial Spaceflight 
Federation, CSF, to present our members' views on Space 
Situational Awareness and the importance of space safety to a 
sustainable future for the United States in orbit and beyond.
    CSF is the leading national trade association for the 
commercial space industry with more than 85 member companies 
and organizations creating tens of thousands of high-tech U.S. 
jobs focused on building a growing space economy supporting 
science, academia, business, and government.
    The U.S. commercial space industry is leading the world 
today thanks in part to the public/private partnerships this 
committee has repeatedly supported over the years and continues 
to support.
    As a result of private sector innovation, the U.S. is 
seeing a marked increase in both the number of launches and the 
number of satellites deployed in orbit, providing critical 
capabilities, including broadband internet, earth mapping, and 
environmental monitoring.
    Ensuring a global commitment to space safety and space 
sustainability has never been more important. Space situational 
awareness represents the most pressing issue to address today 
as access to accurate and timely tracking data is essential to 
ensuring continued safe operations in space for all users.
    CSF fully endorses recommendations by both the Space Force 
and NAPA to transition unclassified SSA activities to the 
Department of Commerce and acknowledges that this committee has 
also long supported DOC assuming this mission.
    DOC has commenced developing the Open Architecture Data 
Repository or OADR to collect and integrate government and 
commercial data into a new database and widely distribute it to 
space users. This is a great first step.
    CSF recommends DOC to staff the Office of Space Commerce 
with experts in the field to iterate the system from a 
prototype through a successful operational system. Delays to 
this implementation could create additional uncertainty for 
both government and commercial users.
    We encourage Congress to provide the necessary financial 
resources to the Office of Space Commerce to implement this 
mission.
    We also recommend the government offer free SSA data tier 
while ensuring it's not competing with the private sector for 
more advanced analytical services. This approach represents a 
commitment to space safety while providing commercial companies 
the opportunity to develop innovative tools that will advance 
our understanding of space operations.
    Distinct from SSA, Space Traffic Management encompasses the 
regulatory policies designed to ensure responsible behavior in 
space.
    Today, the FCC serves as the primary driver of these 
requirements for U.S. licensed satellite systems. As with SSA, 
the NAPA Report recommends that DOC assume the leading role 
with STM.
    As the largest consumer of commercial space data in the 
world, the U.S. remains in a unique position to dictate 
reasonable STM and orbital debris standards but only if it 
applies this requirement equally to all companies seeking to 
serve the domestic market.
    In addition, newly developed STM rules must continue to 
encourage both safe operations and rapid innovation. This 
balance is critical to prevent satellite systems to simply 
forum shop to license in foreign administrations without the 
same rules to sidestep U.S. regulations, leaving an incomplete 
picture of orbital operations and reducing transparency.
    CSF recommends the FCC modify its rules to require any 
company that serves the U.S. market fully comply with U.S. 
orbital debris rules to improve global activities while 
leveling the playing field for companies licensed in the U.S.
    CSF further recommends DOC partner with NASA to leverage 
NASA's technical expertise in developing more effective 
technical standards, particularly for orbital debris 
mitigation. NASA has deep institutional knowledge on safe space 
operations that would benefit the Department of Commerce.
    Thank you again for the opportunity to testify today. I 
look forward to your questions.
    [The prepared statement of Ms. Drees follows:]

            Prepared Statement of Karina Drees, President, 
                   Commercial Spaceflight Federation
    Chair Cantwell, Chair Hickenlooper, Ranking Member Wicker, Ranking 
Member Lummis, and distinguished members of the Committee--thank you 
for inviting the Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF) to present our 
members' views on space situational awareness and the importance of 
space safety to a sustainable future for the United States in orbit and 
beyond.
    CSF is the leading national trade association for the commercial 
space industry, with more than 85 member companies and organizations 
across the United States. Founded in 2006, CSF is focused on fostering 
a sustainable and growing space economy that democratizes access to 
space and space capabilities for scientists, students, civilians, 
businesses and decision makers. CSF members are responsible creating 
tens of thousands of high-tech U.S. jobs driven by billions of dollars 
in private investment.
    The U.S. commercial space industry is leading the world today, 
thanks in part to the public-private partnerships that this Committee 
has repeatedly supported over the years and continues to support. We 
are grateful for your ongoing commitment to expanding and maturing this 
important industry, which is a key element of U.S. technological 
leadership and global competitiveness.
    As a result of private sector innovation, the U.S. is seeing a 
marked increase in both the number of launches from the United States 
and the number of satellites--which provide critical capabilities, 
including broadband internet, earth mapping and environmental 
monitoring, and many other important services--deployed to orbit. In 
this domain, our competition is, largely, China. With the U.S. now the 
center of both launch capability--leading the world in commercial 
launch market share--and the space services market, the importance of 
ensuring a global commitment to space safety and space sustainability 
has never been more important.
    While much attention is paid to new commercial satellite systems 
and so-called satellite constellations, it is important to note that 
such systems are predictable and well-conceived. Indeed, the largest 
contributors of space debris to this point have been generated by 
derelict state-owned or non-commercial rockets, and through the testing 
of anti-satellite weapons--not from commercially-licensed launch 
vehicles or emerging commercial satellite systems. In this sense, 
satellite constellations are similar to cars on a dirty highway--it is 
important to find ways to clean up the highway and ensure it is clean, 
not simply regulate the cars that are passing over it. At the same 
time, U.S. satellite operators have a history of responsible on-orbit 
operations, and this model of U.S. operations needs to be adopted 
worldwide. I am pleased to be here today to outline these efforts and 
to provide our recommendations to the Committee.
Space Situational Awareness
    Space Situational Awareness (SSA) represents the most pressing 
issue to address today, and access to accurate and timely tracking data 
is essential to ensuring continued safe operations in space for all 
users. The U.S. Space Force 18th Space Control Squadron (SPCS) does an 
outstanding job collecting data from U.S. government and commercial 
sensors worldwide to track and catalogue over 26,000 \1\ objects. SPCS 
supports U.S. government spacecraft operations and publicly releases 
unclassified tracking data for spacecraft and debris as small as two 
inches in diameter \2\. SPCS also provides spacecraft operators, both 
foreign and domestic, with Conjunction Data Messages (CDMs), that 
indicate whether the probability of collision between two objects is 
greater than 10-4.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ https://www.spaceforce.mil/DesktopModules/ArticleCS/
Print.aspx?PortalId=1&ModuleId=
489&Article=2129325
    \2\ https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/news/
orbital_debris.html
    \3\ that have (i) a time of closest approach within 72 hours, (ii) 
a probability of collision greater than 1/10,000 (1e-4), and (iii) a 
miss distance less than 1 km. https://licensing.fcc.gov/myibfs/
download.do?attachment_key=6212177
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    To better align agency focus, the Space Force and independent 
technical authorities, including the National Academy of Public 
Administration, have recommended that SPCS transition unclassified SSA 
activities for non-U.S.-government users to a separate entity; 
specifically, the Department of Commerce (DOC). Space Policy Directive-
3 (SPD-3) issued further guidance for this transition.
    CSF fully endorses this recommendation, and acknowledges that this 
Committee has also long supported DOC assuming this mission. The SSA 
mission is separate and distinct from the regulatory activities 
performed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Federal 
Communications Commission (FCC), and the National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and should be managed by a separate 
civilian agency. The Department has commenced on developing the Open 
Architecture Data Repository (OADR) to collect and integrate government 
and commercial data into a new database and widely distribute it to 
space users. This is a great first step. CSF has supported the 
Department of Commerce's efforts to establish a dynamic, flexible, and 
scalable approach to civilian SSA and STM, and we are eager for DOC to 
quickly transition from a study phase into an operational phase for 
this effort.
Recommendations:
  1.  The Department of Commerce should rapidly transition from a study 
        phase into operations for the OADR system. While it is 
        important to develop a system that accurately and 
        comprehensively ingests and distributes tracking data, 
        additional delays to this effort could create additional 
        uncertainty for both the U.S. government and commercial users. 
        We encourage Congress to provide the necessary financial 
        resources to the Office of Space Commerce to complete this 
        mission.

  2.  In providing SSA data, the government must offer a free data 
        tier, while also ensuring it is not competing with the private 
        sector for more advanced analytical services. This approach 
        represents a commitment to space safety, while also providing 
        commercial companies the opportunity to develop innovative 
        tools that will advance our understanding of space operations.
Space Traffic Management
    Distinct from SSA, Space Traffic Management (STM) encompasses the 
regulatory policies designed to ensure responsible behavior in space. 
Today, the FCC serves as the primary driver of these requirements for 
U.S.-licensed satellite systems. As with SSA, the NAPA report 
recommends that DOC assume the leading role with STM.
    Importantly, as noted by the recent National Science Foundation 
JASON report, it would be prudent to restrict or apply significantly 
stronger requirements and scrutiny to large satellite systems, or 
constellations, operating above 600 km. This is because debris at this 
altitudes will remain in orbit for centuries or longer, and the risk 
associated with passive debris removal is much higher than with lower 
altitudes. While DOC is the appropriate agency to propagate and 
maintain a STM regime, it should consult with a technical authority 
such as NASA to develop the requirements to ensure they are grounded in 
reasonable engineering analysis and take into account different orbital 
regimes and risk assessments.
    Any newly developed STM rules--which can only come once a full SSA 
approach is implemented--must continue to both encourage safe 
operations and rapid innovation. This balance is critical as other 
countries, primarily China, plan to deploy thousands of satellites to 
space in the coming years and routinely demonstrate a lack of concern 
for space sustainability. Overly restrictive STM rules in the U.S. 
would serve only to hurt U.S. commercial competitiveness and national 
security, while both literally and figuratively leaving space for China 
to fill. Satellite systems will simply ``forum shop'' to license in 
foreign administrations without such rules in order to evade U.S. 
regulations, as has historically been the case with most satellite 
operators.
    Indeed, any new U.S. regulations on orbital debris will be undercut 
by foreign-licensed systems that serve the U.S. market but are not 
required to abide by FCC or other U.S. Government orbital debris rules. 
As it stands, U.S. licensed systems must adhere to these regulations, 
but foreign licensed systems that seek and obtain U.S. market access do 
not. This regulatory asymmetry perversely incentivizes satellite 
operators to ``forum shop'' for countries with more lenient orbital 
debris requirements, as nearly all satellite operators have done. While 
U.S.-licensed companies are required to provide data on the health of 
their satellite systems, foreign-licensed systems operating in the U.S. 
are not--leaving an incomplete picture of orbital operations, and 
reducing transparency. This regulatory gap both reduces the efficacy of 
any current or future U.S. orbital debris mitigation policies and 
provides a preference for foreign systems over domestic systems.
    If the Congress wishes to take any effective action on this matter, 
it must eliminate this regulatory asymmetry. Otherwise, the U.S. will 
never lead in space safety regulations worldwide. As the largest 
consumer of commercial space data in the world, the United States 
remains in a unique position to dictate reasonable STM and orbital 
debris standards, but only if it applies those requirements equally to 
all companies seeking to serve the domestic market.
Recommendations:
  1.  FCC should modify its rules to require that any company that 
        serves the U.S. market must comply with U.S. orbital debris 
        rules. This requirement would significantly improve global 
        orbital debris activities, while leveling the playing field for 
        companies licensed in the United States.

  2.  DOC should partner with NASA to leverage NASA's technical 
        expertise in developing more effective technical standards. 
        NASA has deep institutional knowledge on safe space operations, 
        through its Orbital Debris Program Office (ODPO) and 
        Conjunction Assessment and Risk Analysis (CARA) program office 
        that would benefit the Department.
                                 ______
                                 
                               Appendix A
             The Commercial Spaceflight Federation's (CSF)
 FY 2022 Commerce, Justice, & Science Appropriations Priority Requests
Agency: Department of Commerce
Account: National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information 
        Service, ORF
Office of Space Commerce

FY22 CSF Request: $49M \4\ / FY21 Enacted: $10M / FY22 PBR: $10M
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\ The $49M top line number, and $20M for SSA data and service 
buys, are derived from the NAPA study's budget runout for OSC for 
FY2022.

    Justification: Space commerce and commercial space applications are 
experiencing rapid transformation and growth. The Department of 
Commerce, through the Office of Space Commerce, has the opportunity to 
further these trends, promoting growth through the expansion of the 
space economy. OSC can also be at the forefront of sustained U.S. 
leadership in best practices for operating in space. It is critical 
that balanced investments occur in space sustainability in order to 
protect the operational environment. Commercial services exist, which 
the Office can lean on to protect investments in space by both the 
government and commercial entities.
    Requested Report Language: The recommendation includes $49,000,000 
for the Office of Space Commerce, in order to provide appropriate 
resources for the office's mission to promote the American space 
industry as well as fund the Space Traffic Management Pilot Program, 
which a Congressionally-directed NAPA study determined the office as 
the appropriate entity to manage this initiative. At least $20,000,000 
of the recommendation shall be used to purchase commercially-available 
space situational awareness data and services from the U.S. private 
sector. We further recommend that OSC avoid paying FFRDCs to develop 
redundant capabilities already available from the commercial sector.
                                 ______
                                 
                               Appendix B
    More details on some of the benefits the commercial space industry 
bring to the American people:

   Climate change is an existential threat to our way of life 
        and the commercial space industry is playing a critical role in 
        addressing this crisis effectively. The commercial space 
        industry is helping tackle the Satellites in space are 
        essential to successfully confronting the challenges we face 
        from climate change. Spacecraft built and launched by America's 
        commercial industry provide remote sensing data that allow 
        scientists to better understand our changing planet and enable 
        informed climate-related decision making by governments, 
        industries, and individuals around the world.\5\ To learn more 
        details about how the commercial space is stepping up, please 
        see the link in the associated footnote below.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\ https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/540686-space-is-
critical-to-climate-if-you-cant-measure-it-you-cant

   The commercial space industry is combining innovation, 
        private capital, and meaningful competition to lower the cost 
        and increase the access to high-speed broadband Internet for 
        tens of millions of Americans living in underserved areas. \6\ 
        To learn more details about how the commercial space is 
        stepping up, please see the link in the associated footnote 
        below.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \6\ https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/guest-commentary/os-op-
broadband-internet-20190725-xdqcejglzvcoflsfja5ii7jz34-story.html

   The commercial space industry is advancing science through 
        human-tended experiments on commercial vehicles. Experiments 
        that explore novel physical and chemical phenomena in 
        weightlessness; explore astronomical events; develop 
        instrumentation; study biological adaptation to spaceflight; 
        develop medical procedures and equipment for future long-
        duration spaceflight; and make observations in the mesosphere 
        and lower thermosphere will deliver superior science with an 
        expert human performing the experiment in the spacecraft. While 
        automation will suffice for selected experiments, the time is 
        now to ensure we achieve the best science in the best manner 
        possible. Human-tended suborbital experiments flying with the 
        new commercial reusable suborbital spaceflight industry are now 
        possible and are vital to best advance science and 
        technology.\7\ To learn more details about how the commercial 
        space is stepping up, please see the link in the associated 
        footnote below.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \7\ https://spacenews.com/op-ed-advancing-science-through-human-
tended-suborbital-experiments-on-commercial-vehicles/

   The commercial space industry is providing unprecedented 
        access to hands on STEM education opportunities for K-12 
        students. How a 2nd-Grade Class Sent a Science Experiment to 
        Space. ``Any school district now that affords football can 
        afford spaceflight.'' \8\ To learn more details about how the 
        commercial space is stepping up, please see the link in the 
        associated footnote below.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \8\ https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/13/science/blue-origin-school-
experiment.html

   America's space enterprise is currently undergoing a 
        renaissance space, led by the commercial space industry. Over 
        the past decade, U.S. commercial space companies have raised 
        $24.1 billion in private equity that has radically increased 
        access to space, enabled distributed networks of small 
        satellites, and laid the foundation for emerging new industries 
        in low Earth orbit, including commercial space stations and 
        free-flyers, and in-space manufacturing.\9\ Even as the rest of 
        the economy struggled financially during the pandemic, 
        commercial space companies remained one of the few bright spots 
        for the U.S. economy in 2020 and 2021. To learn more details 
        about how the commercial space is stepping up, please see the 
        link in the associated footnote below.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \9\ https://spacecapital.docsend.com/view/v7n5255rnz3hm743.

    Senator Hickenlooper. Great. Thank you.
    Mr. O'Connell.

STATEMENT OF KEVIN M. O'CONNELL, FOUNDER AND CEO, SPACE ECONOMY 
                          RISING, LLC

    Mr. O'Connell. Thank you.
    Good morning, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member Lummis. Thank 
you for the invitation to return to the subcommittee to talk 
about the critical issue of space debris.
    Mr. Chairman, in my prepared statement, I've actually 
updated the committee on some of the most exciting developments 
in the space economy. In short, we see the space economy 
accelerating and diversifying very quickly.
    Space activities already contribute an estimated $5 
trillion annually to the U.S. economy and that number is 
absolutely growing.
    Second, our appreciation of the value of space in our lives 
is changing. We increasingly recognize space as a key element 
of, if not the backbone of the 21st Century economy.
    So space will fuel ag-tech, clean-tech, ed-tech, and other 
innovations while deepening our understanding of changes on 
this planet and enabling exploration and habitation of outer 
space.
    Many states and other countries are exploring how to 
leverage space for economic growth, talent development, and 
innovation, and I offer this background, Mr. Chairman, only to 
describe what is really at risk if we do not deal promptly with 
the space debris challenge.
    As I have testified before, space debris threatens the 
astronauts aboard the International Space Station, billions of 
dollars of existing space investments, and the growth of space 
commerce.
    The NASA SpaceX launch of astronauts to the ISS in April 
was flawless, save for a near miss with a hunk of space debris. 
Canada's robotic arm in the ISS was punctured by a piece of 
debris in May. These calls are too close.
    Space debris policy discussions actually date back to the 
Reagan Administration and have been an increasing priority for 
the last four Administrations. An increasing number of 
organizations are vocal on the problem and the need for action.
    Space Policy Directive 3, as has been mentioned, recognized 
the urgency of this problem and directed a whole of government 
approach to creating new paths for space safety. It 
acknowledges the historic role of the Department of Defense and 
the need to shift to a civil space traffic management system, 
given growing security concerns in space and a parallel growth 
in commercial space activities.
    It also recognized the critical importance of our 
international space partners. A key tenet of SPD-3 was the need 
to modernize the Nation's SSA architecture and to leverage 
commercial capabilities that already exist in the market. 
Communications, cloud-based data management, analytics, and 
other technologies that have helped innovate in many, many 
other industries can be leveraged here immediately.
    Meanwhile, entrepreneurs have developed new tools to 
mitigate risks to space systems and to promote continuing 
investment in innovation. Debris detection and new ways of 
characterizing the space environment are key while others are 
working with autonomy, machine learning, active debris removal, 
and others to improve space safety.
    The open architecture approach that has already been 
discussed will allow new tools to be incorporated very quickly. 
Beyond improved collision avoidance, firms are already 
developing new services as part of the emerging space safety 
industry.
    One complicating factor is how quickly the debris threat is 
changing, given projections of new space objects and more 
complex missions over the next decade. U.S. Government efforts 
should focus on how to quickly acquire, validate, and implement 
these services.
    We are not alone in our space pursuits nor the need to deal 
with the problem. The United States and its allies routinely 
discuss these issues in many different forums. Not everyone is 
onboard, however. The uncontrolled re-entry of a Chinese Long 
March 5b rocket in May, the second such occurrence, had the 
world on edge about whether it might damage property and kill 
people.
    Russia held up progress at the United Nations on the long-
term sustainability guidelines until they were finally passed 
with global consensus in 2018.
    There is no doubt that if longstanding American leadership 
in space safety falters, these countries will step in. The 
space component of China's Belt and Road Initiative is already 
designed to lock up emerging space partners and this will be no 
exception.
    Mr. Chairman, I was asked to speak specifically to the role 
of the Commerce Department on these matters based on my recent 
role as the Director of the Office of Space Commerce. Since 
space will play a growing role in the 21st Century economy, the 
Commerce Department is uniquely positioned to play key roles on 
space and space commerce.
    The congressionally directed NAPA Report, as has already 
been mentioned, endorsed the roles of Commerce and the Office 
of Space Commerce in managing a variety of technical projects 
and partnerships against the challenge of orbital debris.
    As the committee may also recall, the Office of Space 
Commerce was established over 30 years ago as the Executive 
Branch advocate for the U.S. commercial space industry. Given 
that mission and the importance of the commercial space 
industry to our economy and our national security, I believe 
that the office must be elevated to the Office of the Secretary 
where it can fully engage departmental leadership.
    Finally, Senators, I want to express my personal thanks to 
this committee for the Space Preservation and Conjunction 
Emergency Acts of 2020 and 2021.
    The committee recognizes the complexity and urgency of the 
space debris problem and the need for intense and focused 
action.
    The provision to create a center or perhaps centers of 
excellence for SSA are especially welcome given the importance 
of additional research in this area.
    With that, I'll conclude my remarks and I'll look forward 
to your questions.
    Thank you.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. O'Connell follows:]

   Prepared Statement of Kevin M. O'Connell, Founder, Space Economy 
        Rising, LLC (Former Director, Office of Space Commerce)
    Good morning, Chairman Hickenlooper and Ranking Member Lummis. 
Thank you for the invitation to return to the Subcommittee to talk 
about this important issue. Space debris and how we mitigate its 
potentially damaging effects on the space economy, our security, and 
our international partnerships was a top concern of mine while serving 
as the Director of the Office of Space Commerce at the Department of 
Commerce. It remains a top concern of mine now even in private life and 
within my new business and academic pursuits.
The Rise of the Space Economy
    Let me start with the opportunity. There has been incredible 
progress in the space economy since I testified before this 
Subcommittee over two years ago, fueled by a world-class U.S. space 
industry and a dynamic ecosystem of entrepreneurs, private finance and 
insurance, and other participants. U.S. government agencies like NASA, 
NOAA, and the Department of Defense are shifting acquisition models to 
encourage and take advantage of commercial space developments, as well 
as space partnerships from London to Tokyo.
    In short, the space economy is accelerating and diversifying. 
Technological breakthroughs in space-based communications are allowing 
competition with terrestrial fiber and facilitating competitive 
telephone and Internet service where no fiber exists. Artificial 
intelligence is transforming a crush of satellite imagery data into 
useful economic information. More accessible and lower-cost launch 
opportunities combined with small satellite developments are allowing 
entrepreneurs to try new ideas and adapt them to quickly bring to 
market. An imminent wave of in-space servicing activities--inspection, 
refueling, and repair--will further improve the economics of space 
activities.
    Back here on Earth, there's dramatic growth in private sector 
finance of space activities, including special purpose acquisition 
corporations (SPACs), as well as a range of entrepreneurial activities 
designed to disrupt traditional commercial space services or invent 
wholly new ones. An even newer cluster of entrepreneurs is focused on 
training and caring for future space travelers as the United States, 
with bipartisan support and some of our allies, heads toward a 
permanent presence on the Moon.
    Entrepreneurial activities are focused on improving on existing 
capabilities, like communications, remote sensing, and launch, while 
others are inventing new capabilities in areas like space 
manufacturing, space medicine, and edge computing and cybersecurity for 
space systems. Another cluster of entrepreneurial activities seeks to 
create the infrastructure for training, housing, and equipping the next 
wave of space travelers and to provide infrastructure for sustainable 
life and normal economic activity on the Moon. As we have marveled 
about private space travel over the past two weeks, commercially driven 
concepts like reusable launchers and satellite servicing will make 
space even more affordable and competitive.
    Our understanding of the value of space is changing. Aside from our 
excitement about space travel, we are quickly moving from a general 
lack of awareness about the importance of space to a place where space 
is increasingly recognized as a key element of, if not the backbone of 
the 21st century economy. Space-based activities already contribute an 
estimated $5 trillion in value to the U.S. economy, and that number is 
growing.
    Let me give you one key example. A recent on-line headline noted 
``all companies are space companies now!'' Beyond the tremendous 
innovation we are seeing within the space community, we are also seeing 
non-space companies begin to experiment with their own ideas for 
leveraging space. Drawing upon ``space as a service'' business models, 
companies from many different economic sectors are designing new 
approaches for monitoring resources and increasing productivity, 
especially given developments in space-based remote sensing, Internet 
of Things (IoT) sensors and high-speed communications. We are at a 
point not unlike the advent of desktop computing in the late 1960s and 
early 1970s.
    To say it another way, space is the platform that will fuel AgTech, 
CleanTech, EdTech, and other innovations, while deepening our 
understanding of developments on this planet and enabling exploration 
and habitation of outer space. Many States in our great Nation as well 
as many other countries are exploring how to leverage space for 
economic growth, talent development, and innovation.
The Challenge of Space Debris
    These exciting space developments sometimes tempt us to think that 
all of this is automatic, that the conditions for success are locked 
in. Today's discussion is about the immediate problem of space debris 
and the need for focused U.S. government and private sector attention 
to the problem.
    Let me provide a couple of examples: the April 2021 NASA and Space 
X launch of Astronauts to the ISS was flawless, save for a near miss 
with a hunk of space debris. It was the potentially deadliest sign of 
the urgency of dealing with the space debris problem. In late May, NASA 
and the Canadian Space Agency announced that a piece of space debris 
had punctured Canada's robotic arm aboard the International Space 
Station; the arm is used for transporting Astronauts during spacewalks 
and repair missions and for deploying scientific experiments.
    Senators, nobody wins a game of ``chicken'' against space debris. 
These close calls are too close. Aside from the threat to human life, 
growing space clutter threatens U.S. and allied investments in space as 
well as the growth of space commerce. Many of the growing commercial 
benefits I discussed earlier could be slowed or eliminated if, for 
example, operators have to add fuel or protective materials to avoid 
space junk. Business operations can be affected dramatically by a 
collision.
    As this Committee knows, this is not a new problem, nor a partisan 
one. National policy discussions about this problem date back 
continuously through the Trump, Obama, Bush, and Clinton 
Administrations, with the first mention of space debris as a national 
policy matter dating back to the Reagan Administration. Long a 
discussion confined to the space community, space debris has gained 
widespread attention. Numerous U.S. government and private 
organizations, including NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Board, Secure 
World Foundation, the Space Safety Coalition, the Satellite Industry 
Association and others have highlighted the urgency of this very 
complex problem.
The Need to Advance Innovative Solutions
    The space activities we are witnessing today are the pinnacle of 
American science and engineering, and the best of U.S. government 
leadership and investment and the efficiency of the private sector. 
While space debris is a serious and immediate problem, there is no 
reason why we cannot leverage these same national capabilities to 
create effective new solutions and the birth of a new space safety 
industry.
    There are at least four tools in our toolkit for mitigating the 
space debris problem:

   avoiding the creation of new debris

   improving our awareness of the space environment

   improving communications and warnings among all space 
        operators, and

   active debris removal.

    While U.S. government investments in these areas vary greatly, 
there is a growing recognition of the roles that academia and the 
private sector can play in providing solutions. Commercial technologies 
for data management, analytics, and visualization that often apply in 
other disciplines need to be applied here, quickly, and commercial 
companies are developing new sensors and other unique tools to address 
this problem. I will say more on that below.
    One of the complexities of the space debris problem is how rapidly 
it is changing. Launch operators CEOs like ULA's Tory Bruno and Rocket 
Labs' Peter Beck have expressed concern about launch window limitations 
because of space congestion, and hardly a week goes by without a 
prominent near miss between active satellites and debris, or between 
debris objects. If we create solutions for 2021, they will also need to 
be pertinent to the space environment of 2025 and beyond. Continuous 
innovation will be needed to mitigate this challenging problem.
The Growing Role of the Private Sector
    Space Policy Directive 3, Space Traffic Management (June 2018), 
recognized the urgency of the space debris problem and directed a whole 
of government approach to creating solutions. It recognized the need 
for investments in science and technology to improve our understanding 
of the space environment. It recognized the historic role of the 
Department of Defense in providing public space safety information, and 
the need to shift to a civil space traffic management model given 
growing security complexities in space and the rapid growth in 
commercial space activities. It recognized the critical importance of 
international partnerships in the interest of space safety and 
sustainability.
    These aspects all speak to the importance of continuing U.S. 
government roles in areas like research, governance, national security 
and foreign policy considerations, and our international obligations 
under the Outer Space Treaty. The strategic and economic importance of 
space assets demand constant focus on protection and freedom of action 
in space, which largely falls to the United States Space Force and U.S. 
Space Command.
    Space Policy Directive 3 also recognized the need to quickly 
modernize our national technical approach to improving space traffic 
management, mainly through improving space situational awareness. This 
was to be accomplished through creation of an open architecture data 
repository, where data, starting with DoD's ``authoritative catalog''--
information derived from classified sources but pertinent to space 
safety--could be managed, fused, analyzed, visualized, and disseminated 
in combination with a wide range of civil and commercial data sources. 
The repository was never seen as the ultimate goal, however: it was 
envisioned as a source of more timely and precise information for space 
operators, but also as a key source of information to inform new 
policies to promote space safety and sustainability.
    Enter the private sector. As the value of space has grown, space 
operators and entrepreneurs have worked together to develop tools to 
mitigate risk to their systems and to promote continuing investment and 
innovation. Companies like ExoAnalytics, LeoLabs, and NorthStar Earth 
and Space have developed new and different ways to detect debris and 
other activities in multiple orbits; companies like COMSPOC, Slingshot 
Aerospace, and others are working to provide a continuously updated 
picture of the space environment for decision-making and channels for 
increased communications between space operators. Yet other companies 
are working on how to leverage autonomy, machine learning, and 
satellite beacons to confront this problem.
    Beyond collision avoidance, companies are providing or planning 
advanced services for space operators like maneuver planning, orbit 
optimization, inspection, servicing, and even active debris removal. 
During a Department of Commerce industry day held last Fall, over 200 
commercial firms provided ideas about how to quickly provide solutions 
to address the space debris and related challenges.
    Common to all of these companies is their leverage of state-of-the-
art cloud computing, communications, advanced analytics, and other 
advanced technologies, and a mindset of anticipating customer needs, 
continuous recapitalization of their capabilities, and innovation. 
These and many others are the early participants in an emerging space 
safety industry. Aside from the obvious space safety benefits, the open 
architecture approach will create new services in other domains like 
the space insurance industry, which will have more data against to 
assess risk for different constellations and orbits. This improved 
knowledge will create a climate of predictability to encourage 
continuing space investment and innovation.
    Speaking of investment, private finance has played an outsized role 
in fueling the space economy. A June 2021 Space Angels report cites 
almost $200B of private investment in over 1500 companies during the 
past decade. Financial institutions are taking a much more detailed 
look at the ingredients associated with a successful space company: the 
technology is only part of the story, equal in part to the management 
team, effective customer outreach, financial projections, and others. 
As the space economy grows, new financial mechanisms designed to 
support firms at all stages of growth are emerging, and space 
investment is increasingly accessible to individuals. Longer-term 
concepts like space banks and commodities exchanges are gaining 
attention as new ways to improving investor confidence.
The Changing International Landscape
    We are not alone in our incredible space pursuits or in the need to 
deal with the space debris problem. It is a problem that all space-
faring nations must consider.
    The United States and its allies routinely discuss these issues in 
many different forums. NASA works alongside other global space agencies 
in the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee; the Department 
of Defense considers them in the Schriever Wargame and in the Sprint 
Advanced Concept Training activities, which include commercial 
participants. During my time as Director of the Office of Space 
Commerce, we had routine and technical discussions about orbital debris 
with our Commonwealth partners, with the European Commission, European 
Space Agency, and the European Space Surveillance and Tracking 
Consortium, the Japanese Cabinet Office, and many others. The Space 
Enterprise Summit, co-hosted with State Department in Summer 2019, 
included representatives from many of these organizations and focused 
on the role of international government and business partnerships in 
addressing the problem.
    Not everyone is on board, however. The uncontrolled reentry of a 
Chinese Long March 5B rocket in May (the second such occurrence) had 
the world guessing where it would land, whether it would harm people or 
damage property, and even whether they Chinese government cared about 
the recklessness implied by their space-faring behavior. Senator Mark 
Kelly expressed surprise during a Senate hearing earlier this year that 
neither Russia nor China responds to notices of possible collision 
issued by the Department of Defense. Russia single-handedly held up 
progress at the United Nations on the Long-Term Sustainability 
Guidelines, a set of 21 internationally agreed technical, policy, 
regulatory and other measures for space safety, for a year until they 
passed in 2018 with global consensus. As a further sign of their 
unwillingness to cooperate, Moscow and Beijing have avoided signing the 
Artemis Accords while they pursue a separate, joint lunar base.
    There is no doubt that if long-standing American leadership in 
space safety falters, these countries will step in. As the U.S. and 
other governments work to establish new ``rules of the road'' for 
space--where we're mostly starting from scratch--the private sector is 
likely to provide the first, practical examples of how to operate 
safely in space. However, the space component of Beijing's Belt and 
Road Initiative is already designed to lock up emerging space partners, 
and increased involvement in space situational awareness and space 
traffic management will be no exception. Russian and Chinese proposals 
in this area are more government focused and less likely to welcome 
U.S. commercial participation. They may also be exclusionary in other 
ways to U.S. interests. The U.S. and its allies need to ensure that 
emerging space countries have alternatives to the onerous terms of 
Chinese infrastructure deals, whether in space or on the ground.
    In short, American leadership on space safety--which we have 
enjoyed for five decades--is at risk unless we avoid bureaucratic 
dawdling and fail to adequately resource a range of space safety and 
sustainability initiatives. The loss of leadership will have important 
strategic and economic consequences.
Role of the Commerce Department
    I was asked to comment specifically on the role of the Commerce 
Department in this area. As the Committee may recall, the Office of 
Space Commerce was established over thirty years ago as the Executive 
Branch advocate for the U.S. commercial space industry. Advocacy can 
take many forms, such as highlighting emerging commercial investment 
and technology areas, encouraging greater U.S. government leverage of 
commercial capabilities, helping break regulatory logjams for 
companies, identifying anti-competitive market behaviors abroad, and 
others. The Office routinely works with other Commerce Department 
organizations on issues like cybersecurity standards (NIST), space 
economic statistics (BEA), space weather and the commercial weather 
data pilot (NOAA), encouraging minority participation in space 
enterprise (MBDA), international advocacy for the U.S. space industry 
(ITA), and others.
    If the Committee agrees with my assertion that space is a key 
enabler of the 21st Century economy, I don't know how we maintain our 
leadership and strategic advantage without a strong space and space 
commerce focus at the Commerce Department. That places a premium on 
having the Office interact regularly with Departmental leadership and 
with senior leaders throughout the rest of the Department.
    Those who question the role of the Commerce Department in helping 
manage the space debris challenge, in concert with other Federal 
agencies, fail to recognize the tremendous policy and technical 
contributions of NOAA--which ensures the safe passage of exquisite 
weather and research satellites every minute of every day and manages 
the Nation's space weather program--but also the National Institutes of 
Standards and Technology, the National Telecommunications and 
Information Administration, and otherwise brings highly relevant 
experience to oversight, regulation and industry relations. The 
Congressionally-directed National Academy of Public Administration 
study on Space Traffic Management published in August 2020 strongly 
endorsed the roles of the Commerce Department and the Office of Space 
Commerce in managing a collaborative network of U.S. government, 
industry, and international partners against the challenges of orbital 
debris. And to provide best practices and evaluate standards for 
encouraging responsible behavior in space.
    It is my opinion that both the advocacy and the space debris 
missions are so important that the Office cannot successfully achieve 
them from deep within NOAA. The Office should be elevated to the Office 
of the Secretary, (returned to its original home, actually) and 
provided funding consistent with the magnitude and importance of these 
tasks. Further, sufficient resources should be provided to the Commerce 
Department and other Federal Agencies consistent with the urgency of 
the overall space debris challenge and its consequences, as I have 
described above. As necessary, funding should be directed to maximum 
commercial purposes of data, analytics and other services within the 
open architecture context described above.
    Academia's role is also growing in importance, given the great 
complexity of the orbital debris problem and its rate of change. Since 
departing Commerce, I have been participated in the activities of MIT's 
Space Enabled Group, led by Dr. Danielle Wood and affiliated with MIT's 
Media Lab. Space Enabled has been part of an academic-industry project 
sponsored by the World Economic Forum to develop a Space Sustainability 
Rating for industry to assess, on a voluntary basis, factors such as 
the choice of orbital altitude and the ability of systems to be 
detected and identified from the ground. Professor Moriba Jah's work at 
the University of Texas on AstriaGraph--another system designed to 
track specific objects in space, is another example of pioneering work 
worthy of expansion and adoption into a scientifically rigorous and 
open architecture approach to space safety.
    Finally, Senators, many of the themes I have mentioned in this last 
section of my prepared statement are consistent with the Space 
Preservation and Conjunction Emergency (SPACE) Act of 2020, as 
initially introduced by Senator Wicker and Senator Cantwell and 
reintroduced with strong bipartisan support in 2021. I'm thankful to 
this Committee for recognizing the importance of this topic and for the 
bipartisan efforts to pass this legislation. Among the many important 
provisions of this legislation are the proposal for creating a Center 
or perhaps Centers of Excellence for SSA, ideally at an institution of 
higher education. In concert with the other provisions, this reflects 
the need for substantial academic scientific, technical, policy, and 
economic research associated with a civil SSA and space traffic 
management system.
    I thank the Committee for your time and your consideration of these 
important issues.

    Senator Hickenlooper. Thank you, Mr. O'Connell.
    Dr. Holzinger.

        STATEMENT OF DR. MARCUS J. HOLZINGER, H. JOSEPH

           SMEAD FACULTY FELLOW, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR,

        ANN & H. J. SMEAD AEROSPACE ENGINEERING SCIENCES

           DEPARTMENT, UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO BOULDER

    Dr. Holzinger. Thank you, Chairman Hickenlooper, 
Distinguished Members of the Subcommittee. I'd like to thank 
you again for the honor of coming here and talking about this 
critical topic.
    The University of Colorado is a top institution in 
researching related to space and SSA. We have observational 
capabilities, telescopes, RF dishes, and from that we are 
involved in all elements of research related to space traffic 
management and SSA.
    Exponential commercial utilization of space is 
simultaneously inspiring and terrifying. Rapidly growing 
commercial services and resource exploration in space about 
earth and near the moon promise meaningful economic growth and 
increased danger.
    Our present situation is much like being in heavy traffic 
without a sense of right-of-way. We stand at a thrilling 
precipice. Ahead, there are countless opportunities near the 
earth, moon, and beyond that promise economic prosperity, 
innovation, and rules-based international leadership.
    I have three central points I would like to communicate to 
the subcommittee today. Point Number One, the U.S. Government 
and industry have a historic opportunity to lead the 
international community in developing SSA and STM norms of 
behavior and rules of the road.
    In the strongest terms, I recommend the United States leads 
these international and industry consensus efforts on the rules 
of the road and norms of behavior.
    I further recommend considering the Nobel Prize-winning 
framework developed by Dr. Elinor Ostrom and championed by the 
late Dr. Mark Meaney for governing shared commons resources, 
such as space.
    Taking this mantle of leadership reinforces continuity of 
rules-based system of international cooperation and commerce 
the United States has endeavored to support for nearly a 
century.
    Further, as a principal user of space, industry must 
heavily participate in determining these rules of the road and 
norms of behavior. The United States should lead and inspire in 
civil space.
    Point Number Two, now is the right time to articulate clear 
mission authority and domains of responsibility for all 
relevant government agencies.
    Decisive mission authorization for the Department of 
Commerce is necessary to maintain and widen our leading 
technical and space industry position.
    Point Number Three, we have a chance to streamline our 
civil SSA and STM research and development enterprise. This can 
produce transformative research, economically impactful 
technology development, and develop the future workforce 
necessary to realize substantial prosperity in space.
    Additionally, nominal coordination between research 
agencies and consistent funding and support to academia, 
perhaps in the form of centers of excellence, will help develop 
the workforce necessary and produce the research that we need.
    Finally, government, industry, and academia should 
contribute to decadal or periodic surveys that identify high-
impact basic research and technology development objectives for 
civil SSA and space traffic management.
    Allow the United States to meet this historic opportunity 
with preparation. Combined, these actions have real potential 
to ensure rules-based United States leadership in SSA and STM 
amongst the international community.
    Improved relevance and efficacy of basic research and 
technology development efforts and ultimately produce a 
thriving space economy.
    With that summary, I thank you again for the opportunity to 
testify on the criticality of our challenges and opportunities 
within civil SSA and space traffic management.
    I'd be pleased to answer any questions you or the 
subcommittee have.
    [The prepared statement of Dr. Holzinger follows:]

Prepared Statement of Dr. Marcus J. Holzinger, H. Joseph Smead Faculty 
 Fellow, Associate Professor, Ann & H. J. Smead Aerospace Engineering 
          Sciences Department, University of Colorado Boulder
    Madame Chair, Senator Hickenlooper, and distinguished members of 
this subcommittee, I thank you for the opportunity and honor of 
discussing critical problems and opportunities in civil space 
situational awareness, space traffic management, and orbital debris.
    Exponential commercial utilization of space is simultaneously 
inspiring and terrifying. Even with `only' 27,000 space objects being 
sensed, tracked, and deconflicted at any time, the rate of close 
approaches--once a worrisome novelty--has steadily become a daily 
occurrence. Worse, there are hundreds of thousands of objects too small 
to be tracked that can still damage or destroy spacecraft. Human 
spaceflight has become outright dangerous, necessitating several 
International Space Station maneuvers annually. Previous National 
Security Space Strategy (NSSS) statements have called space 
``congested, contested, and competitive.' This apt phrase captures the 
truth of what we face in enabling vibrant, prosperous economic 
utilization of space.
    Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and Space Traffic Management 
(STM) are emerging interdisciplinary fields that focus on how to use 
radar, telescopes, and other sensors to detect, track, characterize, 
determine intent, and manage on-orbit space objects. This includes 
disparate technical disciplines including but not limited to 
astrodynamics, information theory, control theory, autonomy, electro-
optical and radio-frequency systems, machine learning, and human 
factors/cognitive engineering. Civil SSA/STM focuses on non-defense 
applications of these capabilities, particularly civil government and 
commercial spacecraft.
    Perhaps a dozen on-orbit collisions have been positively 
identified, which, combined with anti-satellite tests (ASAT) have led 
to an explosion of tracked space objects over the past two decades. The 
number of on-orbit debris are expected to grow for the foreseeable 
future unless remediation methods are enacted. The overwhelming 
majority of current space objects are either debris from past 
misadventures or spacecraft malfunctions. NASA's Orbital Debris Program 
office suggests that removing up to five large rocket bodies each year 
could stabilize the debris population \1\, however this figure was 
formed before large commercial constellations began to launch and is 
likely now an underestimate. Rapidly growing commercial services and 
resource exploration in space about Earth and near the Moon are 
increasing the risk of collision and further collateral damage. Our 
present situation is much like enduring heavy automobile or maritime 
traffic without a sense of `right-of-way.'
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ https://orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/remediation/
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    Yet, for all these dangers, we stand at a truly thrilling 
precipice. Behind us we see the space domain as the sole province of a 
few state and commercial actors. Ahead, there are countless 
opportunities near the Earth, Moon, and beyond that promise economic 
prosperity, innovation, and rules-based international leadership. The 
United States government and industry possess the unique and critical 
means and opportunity to lead the international community in developing 
SSA/STM norms of behavior and `rules of the road.' We have a chance to 
streamline our civil SSA/STM research and development enterprise, 
producing transformative basic research, economically impactful 
technology development, and the future workforce necessary to realize 
substantial prosperity in space. Further, with the recommended transfer 
of civil SSA/STM to the Department of Commerce (DoC) \2\ and the 
formation of the United States Space Force, now is the right time to 
articulate clear mission authorizations and domains of responsibility 
for relevant government entities. Behind each of these opportunities 
lie shoals of challenges. However, it is my sincere belief that with 
bold vision and judicious action, we can set the `rules of the road' 
and norms of behavior of the space frontier, ensuring a windfall of 
economic prosperity and peaceful interactions for the majority of this 
century.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\ https://napawash.org/uploads/NAPA_OSC_Final_Report.pdf
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    Overcoming the following key challenges will be necessary for us to 
achieve this outcome.

  1.  Rules of the Road and Norms of Behavior. State and commercial 
        actors in the international community have neither achieved 
        consensus nor adopted safe and commercially viable civil rules 
        of the road and norms of behavior. For such consensus to occur, 
        interested parties must participate directly or indirectly in 
        rule-making; it must be plain to state and commercial actors 
        that such rules benefit them.

  2.  Coherent, Coordinated, and Sustained Funding for SSA/STM 
        Innovation. Our current research funding organizations are 
        neither sufficiently funded nor adequately coordinated to lead 
        academia and industry in basic research, technology 
        development, and workforce for real operational concerns and 
        future needs. Through no fault of the cognizant organizations, 
        the current funding structure is insufficient to solve complex 
        systems of systems challenges in the new and developing field 
        of SSA/STM. Coherent, impactful innovation in SSA/STM and 
        efficient tax dollar use will require inputs from a cadre of 
        government, industry, and academic experts, centers of 
        excellence, and sustained congressional support.

  3.  SSA/STM Beyond Earth Orbit. A rising tide of state and civil 
        missions will be sent to the Moon in the next 5 years. Such 
        missions vary from high profile human spaceflight missions such 
        as Artemis to a variety of ultra-small CubeSat missions led by 
        universities. SpaceX has announced its intentions to send 
        missions to Mars. Our core SSA tools, such as observation 
        association, two-line element (TLE) orbit representation, and 
        initial orbit determination break down in many of these cases 
        \3\. These civil and commercial missions beyond geosynchronous 
        Earth orbit will require any new civil SSA/STM enterprise 
        system to seamlessly handle space objects transferring between 
        and residing within Earth orbit and beyond.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ M. Holzinger, C. Chow, P. Garretson, A Primer on Cislunar 
Space, AFRL Space Vehicles Directorate, 23 June, 2021. https://
www.afrl.af.mil/Portals/90/Documents/RV/A%20Primer%20
on%20Cislunar%20Space_Dist%20A_PA2021-1271.pdf?ver=vs6e0sE4PuJ51QC-
15DEfg%3D%3D

  4.  Clear Civil SSA/STM Mission Authorization. Because of the newness 
        of democratized space commerce activities, unclear/piecemeal 
        SSA/STM roles and responsibilities between DOC, FCC, USSF, and 
        NASA are unavoidable. These gaps and ambiguities impose 
        unnecessary challenges, frictions, and costs in quickly 
        responding to civil space needs and commercial endeavors. Clear 
        civil SSA/STM mission authorizations must be articulated and 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        any inter-agency connections and communications streamlined.

    Details on opportunities motivated by these challenges are 
summarized in the following paragraphs.
Rules-Based United States Leadership in SSA/STM
    How can we develop, implement, and verify compliance for 
sustainable SSA/STM `rules of the road' extending to the Moon and 
beyond? Further, how can we ensure that international state and 
commercial actors will embrace such practices, rather than skirt or 
ignore them? Continuing unsustainable SSA/STM practices will quickly 
lead us to a tragedy of the commons--an unenviable scenario in which 
space, our common resource, is no longer usable. As with many fields of 
cooperation, it is clear that international state and commercial actors 
must ultimately agree to follow any rules of the road and clearly 
understand how these norms of behavior benefit them directly or 
indirectly. These ideas are not new, and have been most recently 
endorsed in a joint statement \4\ at the G-7 summit in June 2021.
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    \4\ http://spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=57581
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    In the strongest terms, I recommend that the United States 
demonstrate continued and increasing leadership in SSA/STM. The 
benefits of United States leadership are manifold with few, if any, 
drawbacks. Fundamentally, taking this mantle of leadership reinforces 
and supports continuity of the rules-based system of international 
cooperation and commerce we have supported for nearly a century. 
Service and resource exploration commercial activities depend greatly 
upon predictable requirements, environments, and outcomes to function. 
With the space economy expected to grow exponentially in the coming 
decades we can look forward to substantial growth in quality jobs, 
gross domestic product, and tax base. This growth will be accelerated 
if the United States decisively promulgates a rules-based SSA/STM 
system of governance that encourages our space industry to seek 
commercial opportunities while also protecting the future use of space.
    The late Dr. Mark Meaney, founding principal investigator for the 
CU Boulder Space Sustainability Initiative (SSI) \5\, proposed 
leveraging basic existing frameworks and principles that have been 
highly successful in applications to other shared commons. Dr. Elinor 
Ostrom received the 2009 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for 
her 8-principle framework on sharing common resources (Ostrom, 1990) 
\6\. These principles are:
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    \5\ https://www.colorado.edu/initiative/space-and-sustainability/
    \6\ Ostrom, Elinor (1990). Governing the Commons: The Evolution of 
Institutions for Collective Action. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 
978-0-521-40599-7.

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   Define clear boundaries of the common resource

   Rules governing the use of common resources should fit local 
        needs and conditions

   As many users of the resource as possible should participate 
        in making decisions regarding usage

   Usage of common resources must be monitored

   Sanctions for violators of the defined rules should be 
        graduated

   Conflicts should be resolved easily and informally

   Higher-level authorities recognize the established rules and 
        self-governance of resource users

   Common resource management should consider regional resource 
        management

    Ostrom's framework has been successfully implemented in other 
applications and may be an excellent set of principles for the United 
States to use when leading development of a rules-based system of 
governance.
    Finally, much like real estate locations on Earth, there are unique 
locations in space (i.e., orbits) that can have more commercial value 
than other locations. This is already demonstrated with geosynchronous 
orbit and the resulting `slots' organized and assigned by the 
International Telecommunication Union. Several researchers have 
proposed orbit `slots' for spacecraft in other orbits. In addition to 
this consideration, I suggest that the SSA/STM system of governance 
consider mechanisms similar to real estate zoning for different types 
of orbits.
Innovation, Workforce Development, and Jobs in SSA/STM
    While much good work has been funded by the Air Force Office of 
Scientific Research (AFOSR), the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), 
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and others, 
the resources awarded to SSA/STM research have been insufficient on 
three fronts: (1) basic research has been chronically underfunded, (2) 
because of low funding in academia the resulting rates of PhD graduates 
with expertise in SSA/STM has been in grave deficit compared to demand, 
and (3) there is little coordination between funding agencies as to 
what research is needed and pursued. To be absolutely clear, these 
issues are not due to neglect or malfeasance, but stem from the newness 
of the SSA/STM field, sharply increasing demand for solutions, and a 
shortfall in coherent basic research and technology development 
coordination between all government entities. I have two suggestions 
that may help address these problems.
    Firstly, whichever government entity is ultimately chosen to have 
mission authority over civil SSA/STM should have, as part of its 
mandate, some level of access, visibility, and potentially input into 
research pursued by other entities (such as AFOSR, AFRL, and NASA). We 
may consider rotating research program officers from these constituent 
organizations through such a coordination role to maximize knowledge 
transfer, buy-in, and awareness amongst government-funded research 
programs in SSA/STM.
    Secondly, we must leverage the wisdom and technical expertise of 
the larger domain of SSA/STM researchers and operational experts. To do 
so, we should consider following NASA's lead in engaging impartial 
entities (e.g., the National Research Council, the National Academies, 
or other groups) to conduct decadal surveys identifying promising 
avenues of basic research and technology development. To ensure these 
decadal survey reports capture research opportunities and real 
operational needs, I propose that government, industry, and academic 
researchers and practitioners contribute to these reports.
    In addition to functional changes in the research enterprise that 
could result in more quality jobs and transformative research, the 
following selected topics comprise a non-exhaustive list of high-impact 
research and operational gaps in SSA, STM, and debris mitigation.

   We must expand the SSA, STM, and debris mitigation 
        enterprise beyond Earth orbit. For example, our core 
        capabilities in observation association and initial orbit 
        determination often break down in multi-body regions. This 
        includes regions about the Earth-Moon system, Earth-Sun 
        Lagrange points, as well as other destinations for both public 
        and private spacecraft.

   Our space object catalog is outdated and struggles to 
        accurately represent states, enable propagation, and represent 
        uncertainty for all but the most traditional cases. When 
        expanding operations beyond geosynchronous orbit, we're asking 
        our existing algorithms to perform tasks there were never 
        designed for. Fundamental and applied technology development is 
        necessary to resolve this. Emphatically, any new catalog 
        representation we choose to adopt should be able to represent 
        all trajectory types, whether in low-Earth orbit or on an 
        interplanetary transfer.

   New results in decision-making under uncertainty for 
        centralized and decentralized sensor networks may fundamentally 
        change our sensor tasking and orbit update processes. We should 
        explore `real-time' ingestion, fusion, and tasking of sensor 
        data in both centralized and decentralized sensor networks. 
        Such advances would make substantial efficiency improvements 
        and reduce taxpayer burden and/or business overhead costs.

   Space weather has been shown to substantially impact 
        spacecraft operations. New sensors continue to be launched that 
        allow us improvingly timely space weather status and 
        predictions. Integration of real-time space weather in SSA/STM 
        methods should be pursued. An excellent example of 
        collaboration in this topic between the Department of Commerce 
        and academia is the CU Boulder Space Weather Technology, 
        Research, and Education Center (SWx TREC)\7\.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \7\ https://www.colorado.edu/spaceweather/

   It is completely appropriate for commercial enterprises to 
        wish to retain proprietary methods for autonomous orbit 
        maintenance and collision avoidance. However, we must still 
        ensure safe autonomous spacecraft operations. Work in 
        certifiable algorithms that provide basic proof of safety for 
        autonomously maneuvering spacecraft or constellations must be 
        performed. Such a method could protect commercial intellectual 
        property while demonstrating necessary flight safety 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        certificates.

   Ultimately, fused SSA/STM information must be understood and 
        acted upon by human operators, much like in air traffic 
        control. Our current SSA in USSF operations handle 1-2 thousand 
        active space objects, where in the future we expect 10s of 
        thousands of active space objects, many more of which may 
        maneuver autonomously. Research in human factors must be 
        performed to understand optimal operator workloads, operator 
        algorithm supervision capacity, and trust in autonomous sensor 
        processing, space object management, and sensor tasking 
        systems.
Appropriate Roles for Government, Industry, and Academia
    Whether implemented as a coalition in a public-private partnership 
or as formal elements of the DoC or other government entities, the 
following roles and responsibilities should reside within government, 
industry, and academia, respectively.
Government
   Congress needs to clearly articulate Mission Authorization 
        and domains of responsibility for SSA/STM

   Introduce physics-informed operating requirements for 
        different regions in space (e.g., polar sun-synch orbits, 
        geosynchronous orbit, Lagrange points). Consider extension of 
        principles in real estate zoning to these regions. Examples of 
        things to change include our antiquated 20-year deorbit policy 
        is not region-specific. Further, our geosynchronous `graveyard 
        orbit' has been shown to be unstable in the long term.\8\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \8\ https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-06170-1

   Engage with and lead the international community (other 
        governments, industry, and academia) in adoption and acceptance 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        of rules of the road and norms of behavior.

   Support integrated STM sensor processing, space object 
        management, and sensor tasking/observation request system. 
        Consider market-based options for sourcing sensor processing 
        and tasking from 3rd parties

   Public purchase and availability of sensor observations in 
        support of civil SSA/STM

   Streamline and maintain a coherent long-term stable funding 
        source, including Centers of Excellence, to facilitate 
        transformative research, workforce development, and quality job 
        growth

   Participate in SSA/STM decadal survey activities
Industry
   Participate heavily in formation and adoption of rules of 
        road, norms of behavior

   Coordinate to propose verification standards for safe 
        operations that don't divulge proprietary techniques & methods

   Participate in SSA/STM decadal survey activities
Academia
   Support research needs in SSA, STM, and debris mitigation 
        for both government and industry

   Lead Centers of Excellence

   Increase PhD and MS workforce in SSA/STM allied areas for 
        government and industry employment, as well as entrepreneurial 
        activities

   Provide impartial algorithm verification and validation 
        services for core SSA/STM activities

   Participate in SSA/STM decadal survey activities

    Combined, these actions have real potential to ensure rules-based 
United States leadership in SSA/STM amongst the international 
community, improve relevance and efficacy of basic research and 
technology development efforts, and produce a thriving space economy.
    With that summary, Senators Hickenlooper and Cantwell, I thank you 
again for the opportunity to testify on the criticality of our 
challenges and opportunities in SSA/STM. The subcommittee's work on 
this matter has the potential to substantially benefit United States 
and international civil space endeavors. I would be pleased to answer 
any questions you or the subcommittee may have.

    Senator Hickenlooper. Thank you, Dr. Holzinger.
    Mr. Graziani.

  STATEMENT OF PAUL GRAZIANI, CO-FOUNDER, ANALYTICAL GRAPHICS 
        INC., AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, COMSPOC CORP.

    Mr. Graziani. Ranking Member Lummis, distinguished members 
of the Committee, I sincerely thank you for inviting me here 
and my company that I represent, Commercial Space Operations 
Center, to testify before you on this critical issue of Space 
Situational Awareness and what that means to Space Traffic 
Management and Orbital Debris.
    While I'm here representing my company certainly COMPSOC, 
which is a hundred percent focused on this problem, delivering 
SSA through a commercial business model, I really want to note 
that I planned that this testimony really represents all the 
commercial companies that are involved in this business.
    We have from the inception of our company had what we call 
a ``big 10'' approach that is inviting all other companies to 
come participate and we have strong relationships and co-
invested with most--I'd actually dare to say most of the 
commercial space situational awareness companies in the United 
States here and actually several international ones.
    So I feel pretty good about representing the industry here 
as a whole.
    I do have some visuals that will support my testimony. So 
the first one up, and this has been established and we can play 
the first chart up there which should be playing a video, there 
we go, so this video--I won't let this run the whole time.
    I think it's well understood what a day without space would 
be like. It's a really bad day. So this video actually by the 
German Space Agency kind of goes through that, but we'll skip 
this and then jump right to the next chart which I think is a 
more interesting video.
    So this video coming up here will depict the growth of the 
tracked objects since Sputnik has been launched and so what 
you'll see here is both graphic depiction as well as a graph 
that will actually show how that population increases very 
dramatically.
    So there's really a few take-aways that come from this. If 
you notice (1) there's a dramatic, just flat-out dramatic 
growth, as you see that curve going. (2) most of these objects 
are debris and therefore not controllable. So that's a problem. 
(3) you'll see some big spikes. So the first one coming up in 
2007, as you mentioned, Mr. Chair, that was the Chinese 
satellite weapons test, the debris 3,000 or so objects created 
from that tracked objects, and then in 2009 you see the 
collision that you also mentioned between a low earth orbiting 
communications satellite and a dead Russian communications 
satellite.
    But what that says is when those collisions happened, 
either intentional or unintentional, it really increases the 
problem very dramatically. So that's something that we have to 
focus on solving.
    So if we go to the next chart, the next chart will show--
it's a better way to look at this debris problem. So what you 
see here are a spatial density representation and what this 
shows is--you can see there's the Chinese satellite weapon in 
the second panel there. You see what happened there. You see 
the Iridium Kosmos collision, and then what you see is the 
growth that's happening because of the dramatic increase, and 
this is very early in the process. This really only goes to 
2019. So going forward is much more substantial.
    So if we go to the next chart here, the key take-away here 
is there is an awful lot of stuff. This is that 107,000 
satellites that are right now proposed to be launched. So we've 
got a big problem coming our way and we better start dealing 
with it or that's really not going to happen. It's going to 
make that orbit, the low earth orbit really unusable.
    So just one more graphic that basically says a lot of 
people say and they're right not all of those are going to fly, 
but if you take a look at this chart, that green line, that's a 
log chart there. That green line is showing what the actual and 
you're seeing that it's tracking to way more than 10 percent 
and even 10 percent would be a big problem. So I think we've 
got a lot of space traffic coming our way.
    [The charts referred to follows:]

[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
    

    So just to conclude with a few recommendations from our 
perspective, so (1) it's really critical to energize and 
motivate the space companies by empowering NOAA and the Office 
of Space Commerce to fully embrace commercial SSA providers, 
(2) fully resource and adequately fund the Office of Space 
Commerce, something we believe needs to happen, (3) there needs 
to be clear, deliberate, and direct action to acquire, 
prioritize, implement, and deploy existing commercial SSA 
systems that stand ready to deliver this capability, and then, 
last, we certainly strongly support the Space Act. We believe 
that this is going to be fundamental to our efforts.

[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

    So again thanks for holding this hearing and thanks for 
inviting us and the commercial industry stands ready to 
dramatically help in this moment.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Graziani follows:]

Prepared Statement of Paul Graziani, CEO, COMSPOC Corp and Co-Founder, 
                       Analytical Graphics, Inc.
1. Opening
    Chair Hickenlooper, Ranking Member Lummis, and distinguished 
members of the Committee--I sincerely thank you for inviting me and the 
companies I represent, COMSPOC Corp and Analytical Graphics, Inc., to 
testify before you on Space Situational Awareness (SSA), Space Traffic 
Management (STM), and Orbital Debris.
    While I directly represent COMSPOC and Analytical Graphics, I want 
to note that I am delivering testimony today to reflect the commercial 
SSA industry as a whole, rather than any one company. We've been 
delivering SSA solutions for over 20 years and established a big tent 
approach that should serve as the basis for my testimony.
    I applaud your leadership today in holding a hearing on this topic. 
SSA, STM, and Orbital Debris are indeed critically urgent matters that, 
unfortunately, have fallen victim to years of stagnation by way of 
repetitious study and debate, confused priorities and limited, 
misdirected funding--resulting in very little actual progress. While 
this topic continues to be of significant interest on the floor, it has 
been allocated too few resources and too little discernable focus for 
any significant advancement--despite Space Policy Directive-3 (SPD-3), 
which formally initiated the STM responsibility and implementation 
effort for the U.S. Government (USG), over 3 years ago. For the sake of 
satellite operators, commercial SSA providers, human space explorers, 
researchers and indeed, the general public, my hope is that this 
hearing and your leadership will ensure it's not too late to provide 
clear legislative direction such that the responsible agency can 
execute and implement space safety solutions.
2. Benefits the SSA industry brings to the American people
    Quite simply, the SSA industry, and a resulting STM regime, enable 
a safe, secure and sustainable space operational environment for the 
continued launch and operation of the critical space infrastructure 
that delivers essential capabilities and services to the global 
population: navigation, communications, weather/climate, Earth 
resources and other imaging, health/medical system support, broadband 
services, and virtual conduct of sectors of the U.S. economy--or U.S. 
Commerce. The functions of industry-provided SSA range from the 
identification and maintenance of position/velocity/orbit information 
on the on-orbit satellite population, to the determination of knowledge 
and understanding of potential collision risk situations, to supporting 
the planning, selection, and execution of appropriate response actions, 
all of whichallow operators to conduct safe operations that minimize 
the risk of accidental collisions that would jeopardize the conduct of 
and provision of these services.
    The average American might not think of satellites in their day-to-
day life, but they certainly unknowingly rely on them. Banking, for 
example--specifically wire transfers--are only possible using precision 
timing signals only available from navigation satellites. Despite the 
panic and inconvenience that would ensue at the loss of banking 
communications, we rely on satellites for much higher stakes.
    Consider a natural disaster; whether it's a flood, forest fire, 
hurricane, or earthquake, satellites help detect, warn and mitigate the 
loss of human life in these events. Infrared satellites detect forest 
fires. First responders rely on satellites to find lost victims. 
Hurricanes are monitored using weather satellites. Any of these events 
alone can be horrific and even fatal. Further, compound on those 
scenarios that much of our communications are reliant on satellites. 
First responders radioing for reinforcements, pilots' connection with 
air traffic control, phone calls statusing friends and family--are all 
communications that are at risk without proper satellite safety 
measures. These are all examples of space-based services upon which the 
ground, air and maritime domains rely.
    The space industry continues to research and innovate, opening new 
doors to ground-breaking operating concepts, constructs, capabilities, 
and services. This is evidenced by coverage on commercial space 
launches introducing possibilities generally undoable even a few short 
years ago (about when SPD-3 was released). The SSA industry will 
continue to help keep space open for commerce and its associated 
research and innovation.
    A natural consequence of this activity, along with other factors, 
causes space to continuously become an increasingly congested and 
complicated operational environment, magnifying risk to operations and 
its long-term sustainability. Current USG (via the DoD) spaceflight 
safety capabilities and services, as well as the Space Situational 
Awareness (SSA) to support them, fall far short of being able to manage 
this critical resource in this ``new space'' regime. However, 
commercial private industry has been actively innovating, building and 
providing the necessary SSA and STM capabilities for over a decade.
    Space is now indispensable to the American way of life, and STM is 
fundamental to protecting the valuable resource of space. The benefits 
of a robust SSA industry will ensure that the space-based services that 
all citizens use today will continue to be available tomorrow and that 
new space-based services will continue to flourish.
3. Commercial Positioning
    US Commercial SSA providers are world-renowned for their 
innovation, subject matter expertise, and capabilities. U.S. private 
industry teams are delivering the most advanced SSA and STM 
capabilities in existence. Many capabilities have been available for 
over a decade, while some capabilities are recent, state-of-the-art 
advancements, due to commercial industry's on-going innovation. Here 
are a few examples from U.S. private industry:

   Utilizes state-of-the-art algorithms that curate, process 
        and fuse data agnostically--facross all formats, standards and 
        phenomenologies--to generate the world's most accurate orbit 
        information and provide operationally relevant, decision-
        quality collision warnings

   Leverages open-standards based, service-oriented 
        architectures to facilitate ease of sharing and plug-n-play 
        interoperability with other existing capabilities or future-
        developed capabilities

   Provides commercial cloud computing architecture to support 
        flexibility, scalability, virtual accessibility, and data 
        security

   Maximizes transparency into data, information, and the 
        processes behind them to support satellite operator confidence-
        building in risk analysis and assessment procedures to support 
        collision avoidance maneuver decisions, planning, and execution

   Ability to track small pieces of debris down to 2cm

   Expertise to uniquely deploy hundreds of ground-based 
        telescopes in an innovative way to decrease the amount of sun 
        exclusion

   Deploying and routinely using telescopes for daytime 
        tracking at scale

   Acts as the operational arm for the Space Data Association 
        which provides safety of flight services to 700+ commercial and 
        civil satellite operators utilizing the Space Data Center that 
        was deployed and has been continuously operating for 11 years

    For the past 3 years, NOAA has been utilizing commercial SSA 
services from private industry to protect their weather satellites in 
both low earth and geosynchronous orbit, in part to ensure the most 
accurate and timely information is utilized.
    There are many more examples where individual satellite operators 
are indeed looking for and leveraging private industry commercial SSA 
services. However, this remains a minuscular population of operational 
satellites and doesn't address the scale needed to protect the space 
operational environment.
    A critical infrastructure component of an STM system, is an Open 
Architecture Data Repository (OADR), which is not available in today's 
legacy U.S. Government capabilities. In November 2020, DoC's Office of 
Space Commerce (OSC), conducted an OADR industry day to perform market 
research for commercial capabilities to support an OADR. Private 
industry demonstrated the ability to satisfy all 10 required functions 
of an OADR as stipulated by OSC.
    In short, commercial companies are better suited than the 
government to provide a higher standard of SSA because, by design, 
their capabilities are more universal/interoperable due to the 
diversity of their customer base, the pace at which commercial 
innovates, and the commercial practices that enable the private sector 
investment. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the government builds 
capabilities that are very specific and uniquely situated to government 
owned and operated systems. The nature of government contracting ends 
up restricting the broad application of products and services available 
from private industry for SSA and STM, and it stifles the innovation 
necessary to continue to meet evolving SSA and STM challenges as they 
arrive in the ``new space'' operational environment.
4. Importance of international leadership in these areas
    SSA and space safety services have long been provided free of 
charge to the satellite operator community via the Combined Space 
Operations Center (CSpOC) under the purview of the 18th Space Control 
Squadron (18SPCS). Using data collected by the Space Surveillance 
Network, the DoD has performed a laudable job of providing these U.S.-
provided SSA Sharing services, to include obtaining the necessary 
Congressional authority, instituting the requisite operational 
procedures, and building and maintaining partnerships with various 
foreign government and commercial entities. The DoD should be commended 
for its foresight and understanding of the need to support space safety 
for the sustainability of space operations, as well as its diligence in 
establishing a paradigm for SSA sharing.
    However, the U.S. national security space regime is becoming 
increasingly threatened due to adversary actions. This is, in part, the 
reason for the recent reorganization around national security space, to 
include the re-institution of U.S. Space Command and the standup of the 
U.S. Space Force. Associated with this reorganization, the DoD has 
directly stated a compulsory demand to focus on space as a warfighting 
domain and a desire to transfer SSA sharing and space safety functions 
to another USG organization (and identified the Commerce Department for 
this purpose).
    Combined with the aforementioned lack of progress in standing up a 
U.S. SSA/STM regime for these civil/commercial concerns, non-US 
governmental entities, and their associated non-U.S. commercial 
counterparts, now have an opportunity and seek to seize the initiative 
in this mission area. If successful, they would then promote their 
leadership paving the way for the development of international 
standards and best practices with respect to space operations, SSA and 
STM. These efforts could then result in processes, standards, and best 
practices that, are not favorably pre-disposed to U.S. priorities and 
concerns; they may even artificially complicate or constrain U.S. space 
operations, including national security space.
    In addition, this would consequently mean that the associated non-
U.S. commercial entities would be able to grab the larger percentage of 
the potential market share for private industry-provided SSA and STM 
capabilities and services.
    Indeed, the current German presidency of the European Union has set 
a high priority on STM to maintain and promote European sovereignty, 
not only for its regulatory impact but also to open markets for related 
goods and services. The European Cooperation for Space Standardization 
has stood up a regular meeting panel of 20 subject matter experts to 
coordinate and harmonize European industries and agencies positions on 
STM related standards and to contribute to the development of STM 
implementation standards in the framework of the International 
Organization of Standardization (ISO).
    And the EU is not the only non-U.S. effort underway. While the U.S. 
might hope for the best here (and realize that hope is not a 
strategy!), there are also efforts underway with potential adversaries 
like China and Russia that will undoubtedly seek to complicate U.S. 
management of its space concerns and equities.
5. Recommendations for congressional action on civil SSA and STM
    In Summary, the space sector is experiencing explosive growth, this 
creates a more difficult satellite operational field, protecting our 
satellites is essential to American every-day way of life, the status 
quo is unsustainable, and better capabilities exist and are assessable 
through commercial options.
    The U.S. needs to take advantage of the commercial innovation and 
the rate at which commercial industry delivers solutions that address 
space safety challenges. Below are recommendations to do so:

   Energize and motivate the space commerce by empowering NOAA 
        and the Office of Space Commerce to fully embrace commercial 
        SSA providers through contracts just like NASA and other 
        agencies do; a no-cost demonstration is not incentivizing 
        private industry to continue to invest and innovate and simply, 
        does not meet the spirit and intent of collaborating with 
        industry for an STM Pilot.

   Implement a national STM Pilot for space safety and 
        continued space economy growth

   Fully resource and adequately fund the Office of Space 
        Commerce to take advantage of existing commercial STM services 
        available from private industry.

   Provide clear, deliberate direction to acquire, prioritize, 
        implement, and deploy existing commercial SSA and STM services 
        available.

   Utilize the market research already performed by the Office 
        of Space Commerce.

   Leverage research and development for studying hard problems 
        where solutions don't exist and to improve upon promising ideas 
        and algorithms; Avoid the unending analysis of alternatives or 
        yet another year of market research or technical studies that 
        have all been performed and results reported. The solutions 
        already exist; they just need to be utilized.

    Again, I applaud this committee for taking leadership and holding 
this hearing. Consistent with the August 2020 National Academy of 
Public Administration (NAPA), there is an impending crisis as it 
relates to satellite operations and managing the collision threats, the 
growth of on-orbit satellites and the critical nature of space-based 
services provided from satellites. There is an urgent challenge and 
private industry is well prepared to meet the challenge. We look 
forward to your direction to remove the obstacles hindering the full 
utilization of existing commercial solutions.

    Senator Hickenlooper. Thank you, Mr. Graziani.
    Mr. Stroup.

              STATEMENT OF TOM STROUP, PRESIDENT, 
                 SATELLITE INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION

    Mr. Stroup. Chair Hickenlooper, Ranking Member Lummis, and 
Distinguished Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for 
inviting me to testify today.
    I'm Tom Stroup, President of the Satellite Industry 
Association, which represents the U.S. commercial industry.
    U.S. industry is leading space innovation, driving the need 
for more precise orbital tracking, SSA, and in the future a 
space traffic coordination and management regime.
    The safety of the space environment is critical to all 
operators, from navigating through debris fields, rocket bodies 
and defunct satellites to operators coordinating on orbital 
planes and best practices for collision avoidance.
    The profile of operational satellites will change 
substantially in five to 10 years. To accommodate this growth, 
the current framework of regulations and policies requires 
review and in some cases revision.
    The six most important issues today are Number One, 
timeliness. Rates of launch and deployment have increased 
dramatically with over 1,200 satellites launched in 2020 alone.
    Operators rely on SSA to characterize the environment and 
anticipate and avoid collision. More advanced services are 
needed to support future operations and establish safety and 
sustainability. There is a need for information-sharing, 
transparency, and coordination among satellite operators as 
well as U.S. and foreign administrations.
    Given the safety aspect inherent in SSA and STCMA, 
government and government-backed provision of these services is 
critical.
    Number Two, orbital accuracies. Today's free SSA services 
feature suitable orbital accuracies to support flight safety 
decisions in some orbital regimes but will fall short as 
activity increases.
    Whether accuracy is suitable is dependent upon operator-
selected collision avoidance metric and threshold tracking 
revisited prioritization, the object's physical properties, 
orbital regime, and maneuverability. Therefore, a focus should 
be on improving data accuracy.
    Number Three, continued development of commercial tools to 
augment current services. Several versions of commercial SSA 
and STCM services exist to augment government systems.
    Continued development and adoption of both government and 
commercial services and STCM system will improve decision-grade 
information for operators.
    Number Four, tracking and advanced SSA analytics. 
Observations from diverse SSA tracking networks and sensors is 
required to build a robust, accurate, SSA system.
    Number Five, open architecture deposit data repository. 
Today's satellite operators contribute data relevant to space 
safety on spacecraft, including positional time histories and 
predictions, maneuver plans, launch, early orbit, and re-entry 
data.
    Commercial entities continue to lead the development and 
implementation of OADR capabilities. This data exchange model 
must be extended globally.
    And Number Six, availability of information. SSA and STCM 
data must be available to all operators, whether commercial or 
government, regardless of mission, altitude, or nationality.
    As such, SIA recommends the following four actions. Number 
1, action and funding are needed now. The commercial satellite 
sector is quickly innovating, driving U.S. leadership in space.
    The U.S. must act now to implement a modern SSA/STCM 
environment to support innovation, including leveraging 
commercial and government capabilities to yield a U.S.-
developed cutting edge space sustainability model.
    Number 2, the framework should be established but specific 
technologies to meet requirements should not be dictated. Space 
companies are renowned for ingenuity. Allowing innovative ways 
to meet requirements of a modern space safety framework will 
encourage development and ensure cost-efficient and effective 
technologies are utilized.
    Number 3, governments should encourage best practices. The 
commercial space industry has a track record of responsible 
operations in space and counts on a safe environment to 
undertake ongoing and future business.
    Solidifying the participation and support of industry to 
ensure widespread adoption of space safety practices is 
critical and will reduce the need for unnecessary and often 
burdensome regulation.
    And Number 4, any effective solution must be whole of space 
and endeavor to meet global needs. A successful modern and 
sustainable STCM system will include all categories of space 
activities, U.S. and international alike.
    The U.S. cannot accomplish this on its own and if 
regulations are not appropriate, satellite operators will 
license systems in foreign administrations rather than the U.S. 
This will require the relationships and leadership of the U.S. 
Government, commercial stakeholders, and like-minded nations to 
achieve space sustainability.
    I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today and 
I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you.
    [The prepared statement of Mr. Stroup follows:]

             Prepared Statement of Tom Stroup, President, 
                     Satellite Industry Association
    Chair Hickenlooper and Ranking Member Lummis and distinguished 
Members of the Committee, thank you for inviting me to testify before 
you today. I am Tom Stroup, President of the Satellite Industry 
Association (SIA).\1\,\2\ SIA is a U.S.-based trade 
association providing representation of the leading satellite 
operators, service providers, manufacturers, launch services providers, 
space situational awareness companies, and ground equipment suppliers.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ SIA Executive Members include: Amazon; AT&T Services, Inc.; The 
Boeing Company; EchoStar Corporation; Intelsat S.A.; Iridium 
Communications Inc.; Kratos Defense & Security Solutions; Ligado 
Networks; Lockheed Martin Corporation; OneWeb; SES Americom, Inc.; 
Space Exploration Technologies Corp.; Spire Global Inc.; and Viasat 
Inc. SIA Associate Members include: ABS U.S. Corp.; Amazon Web 
Services; Artel, LLC; AST & Science; Astranis Space Technologies Corp.; 
Blue Origin; Eutelsat America Corp.; ExoAnalytic Solutions; HawkEye 
360; Hughes; Inmarsat, Inc.; Kymeta Corporation; Leonardo DRS; Lynk; 
Omnispace; Ovzon; Panasonic Avionics Corporation; Peraton; Planet; 
SpaceLink; Telesat Canada; ULA; UltiSat and XTAR, LLC.
    \2\ Viasat does not join in these comments
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    We are at an important time in the advancement and use of space 
with U.S. industry bringing vast innovation to space. There are many 
innovative ways to use space which drive the increased need for more 
precise orbital tracking, space situational awareness, and, in the 
future, a space traffic coordination and management (STCM) regime. 
These uses include everything from large constellations of 
communications satellites bringing broadband to everyone, commercial 
human spaceflight, position navigation and timing, and greater space 
exploration and monitoring. The safety of the space environment is 
critical to all of our operators: from navigating through debris 
fields, rocket bodies, and defunct satellites, to operators 
coordinating on orbital planes and best practices for collision 
avoidance, to our cubesat operators who must utilize innovative designs 
to maneuver their satellites without exceeding their size, weight, and 
power budgets.
    SIA projects the profile of active satellites operating in low 
earth orbit will change substantially in the upcoming 5-10 years. Many 
ventures have been applying for regulatory approvals, seeking 
investment and developing designs and are operating on-orbit today, 
including providing high-speed, low-latency broadband, earth 
monitoring, and other critical capabilities from orbit. Although a 
number of large constellations have been proposed, it is important to 
understand that adding the total number of satellites proposed in 
regulatory filings worldwide does not equate with what will ultimately 
be viable, orbiting systems. Nevertheless, it is clear that the current 
framework of space regulations and policies requires review and, in 
some cases, revision to prepare for the continued utilization of space, 
encourage and promote innovation, drive continued investments in the 
U.S., and promote a safe space environment.
    SIA urges thoughtful consideration of the SSA and eventual STCM 
regime in a way that facilitates operators appropriately responsible 
for safe space operations and fosters the ongoing safe and efficient 
use of the shared space environment.
    The most important issues SIA sees today are as follows:

  1.  Timeliness: The current and forecasted rates of launch and 
        spacecraft deployment have increased dramatically, with over 
        1200 satellites launching in 2020. Currently, space operators 
        rely on space situational awareness (SSA) services and 
        conjunction messages to characterize the space environment and 
        anticipate and avoid collision. While these SSA services are 
        important and useful today, more advanced services are needed 
        to support future space operations and establish space safety 
        and sustainability of the space environment. SIA members 
        believe that there is a need to revise the current space safety 
        construct by procuring and implementing a viable and effective 
        coordination approach for information sharing, transparency, 
        and coordination among satellite owners/operators, U.S. 
        government organizations, and foreign administrations. Given 
        the safety aspect inherent in SSA and STCM, government and 
        government-backed provision of these services is critical.

  2.  Orbital accuracies. Today's public, free SSA services feature 
        suitable orbital accuracies to support flight safety decisions 
        in some orbital regimes, but in many key orbital regimes they 
        will fall short as space activity increases. Whether the 
        accuracy is suitable is highly dependent upon the specific 
        collision avoidance metric and threshold selected by the 
        operator, the type of object, its size or reflectivity, 
        tracking revisit and prioritization, the orbital regime it 
        occupies, and its maneuverability. To accommodate these current 
        orbital inaccuracies, some operators often rely on very 
        conservative assumptions for decisions to implement collision 
        avoidance decisions, resulting in a flood of warnings. A focus 
        should be on improving the accuracy of these datasets.

  3.  The continued development of commercial tools to augment current 
        space sustainability and safety service. Several versions of 
        commercial SSA and STCM services exist today to augment 
        government systems in a highly complementary way. The continued 
        development and adoption of both government and commercial 
        services in a diverse STCM system will improve accuracy of 
        decision-grade information for space operators.

  4.  Tracking and advanced SSA analytics. Observations from diverse 
        SSA tracking networks and sensor types is required to build a 
        robust, accurate SSA system. The data from these observations 
        must be brought together using modern data fusion engines and 
        analytics to produce accurate, decision-quality SSA content and 
        collision alert warnings that operators can rely upon to make 
        timely decisions.

  5.  Open Architecture Data Repository (OADR). Today, satellite 
        operators have proven a willingness to proactively contribute 
        data on their spacecraft, to include spacecraft positional time 
        histories and predictions, maneuver plans, launch, early orbit 
        and reentry data, and other data relevant to safety of flight. 
        Commercial entities continue to lead the development and 
        implementation of OADR capabilities. We need to now extend that 
        space operator data exchange model across the global space 
        operator population under a robust STCM enterprise, providing 
        an OADR that can serve as the gathering place for authoritative 
        spacecraft operator data.

  6.  Availability of information. It is imperative that SSA and STCM 
        data be made readily available to all space operators, whether 
        commercial or government, regardless of mission, altitude or 
        nationality. Given the critical space safety role that this 
        data products and supporting analytics provide, such data must 
        be highly available, with a minimum of SSA and STCM service 
        outages, and operators need to contribute improved data to make 
        this successful.

    As such, SIA recommends the following actions:

        Recommendation 1: Action and funding is needed now. The 
        commercial satellite sector is innovating quickly and driving 
        U.S. leadership in space. SIA urges the U.S. government act now 
        to implement a more modern SSA/STCM environment to support this 
        innovation, including leveraging both commercial and government 
        capabilities to yield a U.S.-developed cutting-edge space 
        sustainability model. This activity requires adequate funding 
        and staffing.

        Recommendation 2: The Framework should be established, but the 
        specific technologies to meet requirements should not be 
        dictated. Space companies are world-renowned for their 
        ingenuity. Allowing innovative ways to meet the specified 
        requirements of a modern space safety framework will encourage 
        development and ensure the most cost-efficient and effective 
        technologies are utilized.

        Recommendation 3: Governments should encourage best practices. 
        The commercial space industry has a long track record of 
        responsible operations in space and counts on a safe 
        environment to undertake ongoing and future space business. 
        Solidifying the participation and support of the commercial 
        industry to ensure wide-spread adoption of space safety 
        practices is critical and will reduce the need for unnecessary 
        and often burdensome regulations and is action that can be 
        taken now.

        Recommendation 4: Any effective solution must be whole of space 
        and endeavor to meet global needs. A successful, modern and 
        sustainable space traffic management system will include all of 
        the types of space activities listed above, U.S. and 
        international alike. The U.S. cannot accomplish this on its own 
        and, if regulations are not appropriate, satellite operators 
        will continue to ``forum shop'' and license systems in foreign 
        administrations rather than the U.S. This will require the 
        relationships and leadership of the U.S. government, commercial 
        stakeholders and like-minded space-faring counterparts to meet 
        the important goals of space sustainability.

    I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you and I am happy to 
answer any questions.

    Senator Hickenlooper. Thank you, Mr. Stroup.
    I apologize for mispronouncing your name. With a name like 
Hickenlooper, I'm usually more attentive. I apologize.
    We'll go to questions now and I think I'll start with Dr. 
Holzinger. STM requires obviously not just international 
cooperation but some level of enforcement, rules with 
feasibility, and as we have other nations developing their own 
frameworks, their own rules and consequences, where do you 
think it is that--how do we demonstrate global leadership on 
this issue, both in STM and SSA, and make sure that people 
recognize that we are still the leader?
    Dr. Holzinger. Thank you, Senator, for that question.
    The United States needs to demonstrate its leadership 
through consensus-based methods. If you look at Dr. Elinor 
Ostrom's framework for governing commons, it's necessary to 
have some level of buy-in from all the entities operating in 
that area. Otherwise, they'll do exactly as some of the other 
members of this panel have said and they will circumvent those 
rules. So there's some level of international collaboration 
that needs to be done and led by the United States.
    If we don't do this, if we don't have the United States 
lead this endeavor, then other individuals or entities will and 
they will not necessarily form rules or regulations or 
approaches that are consistent with our national interests.
    Senator Hickenlooper. Got it. Part of this is the level of 
awareness of the American people isn?t at what it needs to be, 
both in terms of the amount of debris in space but also the 
speed it's traveling at, what happens, how small a piece of 
debris can still do significant damage.
    Mr. O'Connell, as the former Director of the Office of 
Space Commerce, what steps did you take while leading the 
office to not only maintain our international leadership but to 
get the word out to the American people about the risks and I 
just wanted to ask what advice did you give to your successor?
    Mr. O'Connell. Thanks very much for the question, Senator.
    I would say that from the very first day, ironically, my 
appointment was announced at the White House the very same day 
that SPD-3 was announced at the White House and my life has 
never been the same since.
    What we did do was spend literally every day in some 
measure on the topic trying to work the many different 
dimensions, supporting interagency discussions with NASA, the 
FAA, State Department, et cetera, working on rules of the road 
partly to encourage the message that we're having here, the 
growing role of the private sector in space, working 
specifically on the technical architecture.
    We actually put a colleague, Mark Daley, out at Vandenberg 
to work hand-in-hand with the Department of Defense and they 
were tremendous partners because they want to get out of this 
piece of the mission as much as we wanted the opportunity to 
take it on and so that partnership was continuous throughout to 
work the technical issues, how is it done today, and then how 
could it be done better, and then, finally, industry engagement 
really appreciating all of the companies that are represented 
here and well beyond.
    Last November we held an Industry Day with over 200 
organizations that participated virtually to talk about one 
piece or another of this activity.
    In terms of the words for my successor, this is one piece 
of the responsibility of the Office of Space Commerce, 
advocacy, regulatory reform. There are others, as well, but 
this is absolutely the most important mission at this point in 
time, given what is at stake and given the need to make very 
rapid progress in this area, and again we can do it using the 
commercial capabilities for this particular piece of the 
mission.
    Senator Hickenlooper. Thank you for your service. That 
sounds like good advice and certainly doesn?t always happen in 
government that you have two cooperating agencies transferring 
responsibility. So that's some reflection of your hard work, 
I'm sure, as well.
    Mr. O'Connell. Thank you very much.
    Senator Hickenlooper. And I've only got a minute here. So 
I'll ask you both to be concise, but, Ms. Drees and Mr. Stroup, 
I wanted to ask you each to discuss how the commercial space 
industry's efforts to advance STM and SSA could complement 
other Federal missions.
    Ms. Drees. That's a great question. So I would say, you 
know, just overall in general with the satellite industry, 
they're providing so many benefits to society really and the 
two that really come to mind are climate change and broadband 
internet.
    So we've got a lot of initiatives underway now through this 
Administration, through, you know, the climate effort, through 
OSTP, and this is where commercial industry can provide a lot 
of value and we're ready to go. We're poised and ready to go 
and address some of these issues, and broadband internet, as 
well.
    You know, this is one area where the satellite industry is 
providing Internet access to tens of millions of Americans that 
wouldn't otherwise receive the access.
    Senator Hickenlooper. Mr. Stroup, do you want to add 
anything to that in your 12 seconds or so?
    Mr. Stroup. I would say everybody uses satellites virtually 
every day and the industry has sought to lead by example by 
establishing a set of best practices and encouraging the 
development of the regime that we've talked about.
    Thank you.
    Senator Hickenlooper. I appreciate that. I apologize for 
asking a question that was impossible to answer in the time 
that was allotted.
    I will turn over the questioning to Ranking Member Lummis.
    Senator Lummis. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman.
    My first question is for Mr. O'Connell. One of my major 
concerns and several of my colleagues' major concerns is that 
it's taking a lot of time for the Department of Commerce to set 
up the Open Architecture Data Repository. So it's been 3 years 
since the Space Policy Directive 3 was published.
    What do you think is holding up the process and what needs 
to be done to pick up the pace?
    Mr. O'Connell. Thank you, Senator, for that question.
    Again, we worked on it with the office team literally every 
day during my time at Commerce. I would say one aspect of this 
is that we needed to get our heads around the different 
partnerships and some of the technical opportunities that were 
available in the commercial industry.
    Second, it really was a resource question, the extent to 
which we had a very, very small budget in the office. When I 
arrived to the office in 2018, no one had led the office for 10 
years and it had accordingly a small, very tiny budget, and a 
very, very small staff. So some of our early days were built up 
bringing in people who could help out with the many different 
responsibilities of this.
    It's very much a resource issue. It needs to be resourced 
now. In the NAPA Report there is actually a set of budget 
estimates that we had prepared during my time at Commerce and 
was looked at both by the internal Commerce Department 
management but also by NAPA.
    Senator Lummis. So the Biden Administration has not yet 
announced a Director of OSC. And I get it, they've got a lot on 
their plate right now. But could you talk about the importance 
of having someone at the helm at OSC?
    Mr. O'Connell. Sure. Absolutely, Senator. Thanks for that 
question very much.
    Again, the office had a number of missions while we were 
there. It had the advocacy first and foremost and advocacy is 
not cheerleading. OK? Advocacy is about identifying investment 
and technology trends that are coming forward in the market. 
It's about helping companies break regulatory logjams.
    The comment about companies going overseas, we want to 
avoid that obviously. It's about improving the space economy 
statistics so that we all make better decisions and we did that 
with the Bureau of Economic Analysis and our colleagues there, 
and so on and so forth.
    So advocacy, it's our legally mandated mission, in addition 
to work on regulatory reform, many of the space policy 
activities of very, very high speeds, high policy activities 
during the Trump Administration, including the review of 
national space policy, which encouraged the use of commercial 
capabilities, and then obviously all of the responsibilities 
associated with this.
    And so we made progress on all of those fronts, I believe, 
and obviously we just need to pick up the pace at this point.
    Senator Lummis. Thank you.
    Mr. Graziani and Mr. Holzinger, in your testimony you both 
talked about the possibility of non-U.S. entities standing up 
SSA/STM regimes.
    Can you elaborate on the consequences of non-U.S. entities 
taking the lead in this area and for the purposes of people 
that might be listening on C-Span, sometimes we use acronyms to 
the point where we don't even know what we're talking about, 
Space Situational Awareness refers to detecting, tracking, and 
identifying all objects in earth orbit, and so obviously this 
is really important as we're launching more and more and so 
this is a really important topic today.
    So Mr. Graziani.
    Mr. Graziani. Certainly. Absolutely many nations throughout 
the world really want to take a key role in SSA and space 
traffic management and there are a lot of reasons for that.
    There certainly are just the national sovereignty, if you 
will, in being able to control and understand what's going on 
using your own assets, so I think that that's one of the 
issues, and then there are military issues certainly because 
this domain of what you do for space situational awareness, for 
space traffic management, the space situational awareness also 
has military applications.
    So you have that blend and then it cuts across and it's 
going to look differently to an adversary of ours, like China 
or Russia, than it would to an ally of ours, be it Japan or 
European Union, et cetera.
    But, you know, we certainly feel that the United States has 
been a lead in this for a long time and if we don't maintain 
that lead, there's going to be consequences to how it is that 
our companies play in that world. So that's my answer to your 
question.
    Senator Lummis. Thank you.
    Mr. Holzinger.
    Dr. Holzinger. Thank you, Senator, for that question.
    Much like Mr. Graziani, I agree that it is imperative that 
the United States lead the endeavor of setting these rules.
    If other countries instead lead those efforts, then they 
are going to be making the rules and regulations and, quite 
frankly, those will not be to the benefit of our own industry 
and national interests.
    So, fundamentally, it's a national interest for us to lead 
this effort and to gain as much consensus amongst the 
international constituency as possible.
    Senator Lummis. Thank you.
    Mr. Stroup, did I pronounce that right?
    Mr. Stroup. Yes, thank you.
    Senator Lummis. Thanks. And this question I would also like 
to address to Ms. Drees. So thank you both.
    Mr. Stroup, you mentioned in your testimony that SSA 
tracking data is not always precise enough for our space assets 
to make safety decisions, and as a result, operators act on 
extra conservative assumptions.
    Is this lack of precision a technology problem or a deficit 
of information, and how can the accuracy of the data be 
improved?
    Mr. Stroup. Yes. So it's partially a technology issue and 
as a result sensors are now being added to spacecraft to be 
able to add to the information that is available.
    Senator Lummis. Thank you.
    Ms. Drees.
    Ms. Drees. Yes, I would say at this point the technology 
has come pretty far along and it's mostly an accuracy of 
information problem at this point.
    Just having the ability to track everything in real time to 
the point where companies often are coordinating with each 
other. So that is one of the things that we see as a definite 
need to fast track the effort.
    Senator Lummis. Thank you, all.
    Mr. Graziani. Senator, I could add something to that from a 
commercial perspective, which is that there are two things that 
are happening.
    One, we're not collecting the right amount of data that we 
should, the amount of data that we should, and we're not 
processing it in the right way. So really the thing that needs 
to happen, you can either process the data that we have already 
in a much better way and commercial capabilities are there 
staying ready to do that, and you can provide more collections 
of the data that are out there, especially in areas that are 
not well covered today.
    Senator Lummis. Thank you.
    I want to thank all of our witnesses, and I call on Senator 
Blumenthal for his questions.

             STATEMENT OF HON. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, 
                 U.S. SENATOR FROM CONNECTICUT

    Senator Blumenthal. Thank you.
    You know, there has been an effort to develop some kind of 
law that relates to space just as there is an effort to develop 
a law of the sea, maritime law.
    Let me ask you, Ms. Drees. To what extent would clearer 
either norms or actual laws promote the development of 
commercial space activity?
    Ms. Drees. I think it's a little bit of a fine line. So I 
think, you know, when it comes to favorable policies, there's a 
growing need in the United States to have those favorable 
policies to keep the United States sort of on the top of the 
space regime, if you will, but, second, and maybe sort of a 
close relative to that is the regulatory environment and this 
is where, you know, there is some concern about not having 
regulation but having the right regulation at the right time so 
that we don't prevent innovation from a lot of these companies 
that have that flexibility today.
    So that is one of the concerns, but I think it's 
imperative, first and foremost, that we take that position that 
we want it as a nation. We want to be able to have the control 
over the process more or less and set the standard for the rest 
of the world.
    Senator Blumenthal. Normally in the United States one of 
our great advantages is we have norms and rules and laws that 
are enforceable, in fact are enforced. So we believe in the 
Rule of Law which gives a certain trust and credibility.
    When you enter into a contract, it's enforceable and you 
know that the government's not going to simply interfere and 
demand a bribe or whatever.
    So on which side do you think we're erring right now, too 
little or too much? I'll open that question to the rest of the 
panel.
    Mr. O'Connell. Senator, thank you.
    I think I wouldn't approach it from a too little or too 
much perspective. What I'd say is it's still very early days. 
Operators have pretty much had freedom of action if they choose 
to move because of a near collision. We won't have that 
opportunity in the very near future and so I think two things 
are happening in parallel.
    One, appropriately, the diplomats and the defense 
organizations around the world are having discussions about 
norms, behavior, just like we would have discussion about norms 
in any other domain.
    At the same time and so much of this is about the speed of 
this problem and how much it's changing. Industry is likely to 
set the practical standards by which we make these kinds of 
decisions. So fortunately in the United States we're required 
by law to actually stay connected to industry standards.
    That is not the case with a lot of other countries that are 
developing similar systems or systems for space traffic 
management of their own and so I think we're very much at the 
point where we have to pay careful attention to how industry is 
dealing with this as the basis for rules of the road as they 
progress and then law and regulation.
    Thank you.
    Dr. Holzinger. Senator, that's an excellent question and as 
an engineering professor, I feel compelled to say that many 
elements of the regulation should have a physics basis, first 
principles basis for what rules of road or regulations we 
impose on them.
    For example, geosynchronous space is very different from 
sun-synchronous polar orbiting space and that's also itself 
different from missions that we send to the moon and so I think 
that whatever rules and regulations we choose to propose should 
be physics-based.
    Senator Blumenthal. Any of the others----
    Mr. Stroup. I would add I think that we've all talked about 
space awareness as the first step and then space traffic 
management coordination and management which I think we feel is 
the appropriate process to be taken.
    Thank you.
    Mr. O'Connell. Thank you for that question again, and I 
want to respond to Dr. Holzinger.
    You know, we talk a lot about the Open Architecture Data 
Repository and perhaps it needs a brand change. You know, maybe 
it's just--but you understand what it does. It was never 
designed as the be-all and end-all.
    What it was first and foremost designed to do was to take 
the data that comes from the Department of Defense unclassified 
and add incredible amount of civil, partner, and commercial 
data and apply modern data management analytics tools.
    The second was that it was designed to enable, it is 
designed to enable the emergence of a space safety industry. 
When we improve the precision and accuracy of what we 
understand places to be in space, it allows industry and we met 
with many companies that did this are thinking about new 
services.
    Finally, and to your question, Senator, it also becomes in 
the open world the place where we start to have much better, 
much more rigorous scientific data for which, for example, the 
insurance industry will now have a whole new source of data 
about how to calculate risk in different orbits and in 
different constellations and things like that.
    That's part of the benefit of moving it from the largely 
national security side here but moving it into the open to 
apply modern data science and rigorous analytics techniques 
that will inform policy and regulation.
    Senator Blumenthal. Thank you.
    Mr. O'Connell. Thank you.
    Senator Blumenthal. I'm in the middle of an excellent book 
called Mercury Rising. I don't know whether any of you have 
read it. It's about the very earliest days of the Space Program 
and Sputnik and John Glenn and so forth and it's kind of a 
culture shock. It's an excellent book to go forward into 
today's age from a time when they thought maybe a person's 
eyeballs would pop out because of weightlessness or the G force 
of going into space and we've learned a lot but now the 
problems seem to be magnified and even more numerous with the 
access that people have to heights and environs that just 
decades ago would have been unreachable and unthinkable.
    So I thank you all for your excellent testimony this 
morning. Thank you. Thanks.
    Senator Lummis. Thank you, Senator Blumenthal.
    Next up hailing from Florida, one of our most significant 
states in space issues, is the gentleman from Florida, Mr. 
Scott.

                 STATEMENT OF HON. RICK SCOTT, 
                   U.S. SENATOR FROM FLORIDA

    Senator Scott. Thank you, Senator Lummis. Thank you for 
hosting this hearing today. I want to thank each of you for 
being here. As you are right, Senator Lummis, In Florida, space 
is big. It's very important to us.
    When I became Governor, unfortunately, manned flight had 
been shut down and we'd lost, I think, over 7,500 jobs and so 
we put a lot of effort into revitalizing our space industry and 
we put a lot of money into it and the private sector showed up 
and it has really completely changed the Kennedy Space Center 
and that whole area of the state and now it's very difficult to 
find engineers because of all the things that were happening 
there. We've had a lot of success there and thank all of you 
for what you've done.
    So I want to talk about what you all can do with regard to 
what's going on in Cuba. I don't know if you're following 
what's happened in Cuba, but the population in Cuba has showed 
up and they're protesting. And what's happening now is that the 
oppressive Cuban regime is beating up peaceful protesters. 
They've arrested unbelievable numbers of people. These people 
are being tortured for just speaking about simple things like 
freedom.
    When Barack Obama was President, he did the appeasement 
plan there and I'll tell you how well it worked. There's a lady 
by the name of Sirley Avila Leon that had her hand chopped off 
after the appeasement, stuck in the mud, hoping she would die 
of infection, and her trust was she complained that a school 
was being closed in her neighborhood. That's what's going on 
down there.
    So it's horrible. We need to get Internet back on. If we 
can get Internet back on, the people of Cuba are going to show 
up and continue to tell the Castro regime ``your time is up,'' 
and they're going to demand the freedom that we all cherish.
    So for Mr. Stroup, what can the satellite industry do to 
help us get the Internet back on so the Cuban population can 
communicate with themselves to continue to fight for their God-
given rights of liberty and freedom?
    Mr. Stroup. One of the great things about the capabilities 
of the satellite industry is its ubiquitous coverage and one of 
the fastest-growing segments is the broadband industry.
    So the ability to be able to provide broadband service and 
giving those people the access to information from outside the 
world as well as what's happening within Cuba is one example.
    Another is the remote-sensing capability of the industry, 
the ability to provide data, observational data to Cubans. It's 
something that the industry is doing with the ability to 
refresh the data every day so that the government is not 
capable of lying to them about what is happening, what is 
happening in the streets and elsewhere throughout the country. 
So those are two of the examples.
    When the Obama Administration had discussed normalizing 
relations, with their opening up relations with Cuba, there 
were discussions about making direct-to-consumer television 
services available, again giving them additional information 
that they otherwise would not have.
    Thank you, Senator.
    Senator Scott. So what can the satellite industry do right 
now to get Internet back on? Is there anything that either our 
Federal Government can do or the private sector can do today to 
get the Internet back on or get people information where they--
it's peer-to-peer information where they can communicate with 
each other?
    Mr. Stroup. I think probably the--to the extent that we had 
the ability to make the receivers available to the members of 
the public, I don't know the challenges that would be 
associated with that, but again given the ubiquitous coverage 
of the service, we've got an ability to provide broadband 
service to them. Getting the receivers to them may be the 
bigger challenge.
    Senator Scott. Yes. And nothing on satellite works toward 
the cell phone, right, because the antenna's not big enough, is 
that right?
    Mr. Stroup. Could you repeat the question, please?
    Senator Scott. So there's nothing--so what they all have is 
cell phones, right? So that?s what they've shut down. They've 
shut down their ability to communicate data with cell phones. 
Is there any way that the satellite industry can get 
information to cell phones or does it always have to be a 
significant size receiver?
    Mr. Stroup. So actually there are companies that are 
developing technology to be able to connect directly from 
satellites to telephones, to mobile phones. Satellites are also 
used for backhaul to cellular phones, but there are two 
companies that are working on the ability to connect directly 
to mobile phones from satellites.
    Senator Scott. Is that technology available yet?
    Mr. Stroup. They have launched their first satellites. It's 
not commercially available yet.
    Senator Scott. What's the name of the company?
    Mr. Stroup. One is AST Science and the other is Lynk, L-Y-
N-K.
    Senator Scott. AST Science. OK. I'll reach out to them. 
We've got to figure out how to do this.
    You know, the other thing that concerns me is just how much 
Communist China is involved in Cuba and they're part of how 
they're shutting down communications. So what can the satellite 
industry do to help make sure that Communist China does not 
continue to do what they're doing to try to stop communication 
in Cuba? Is there anything?
    Mr. Stroup. What can the satellite industry do to stop----
    Senator Scott. What Communist China is doing?
    Mr. Stroup. I think certainly making sure that there are 
signals available. I think that short of jamming the signals 
across multiple different service providers, I don't know what 
else Congress can do, other than to continue to make sure that 
the satellite industry has the access to spectrum to be able to 
continue the services it's providing.
    Senator Scott. OK. If you come up with anything of how we 
can get the Internet back on, it's the biggest issue we've got 
right now. I mean, if you see the videos, there's a lady that 
the Cuban--they shot her son. She had to watch him bleed to 
death. You see protesters just have the heck beat out of them. 
So it's just disgusting what Cuba is doing right now.
    So if you have any ideas, just let me know.
    Mr. Stroup. Will do. Thank you, Senator.
    Senator Scott. Thank you.
    Senator Lummis. Thank you for those important questions, 
Senator Scott.
    I want to give Senator Hickenlooper a chance to return and 
so I'm going to complete my line of questioning while we wait 
for him certainly with gratitude toward our Senators who are 
participating today and to our panel.
    As I mentioned in my opening remarks, more than just 
tracking orbital debris, there must be a bigger push to prevent 
debris in the first place and, more importantly, in my opinion, 
to take out the trash or de-orbit space junk.
    So from all of you, I'd like to hear about the 
possibilities and challenges of de-orbiting debris and some of 
the current private sector initiatives to do so. This is 
something that I would think has to be a priority for us.
    So let's start with Ms. Drees and hopefully just go down 
the line.
    Ms. Drees. Thank you, Senator, for the question.
    I'll make two points on that. So, Number 1, a lot of the 
new satellites being developed today are cube sats or small 
sats and they have the technology essentially available to 
essentially bring the satellite back down into the top layer of 
the atmosphere and burn up in the atmosphere. So at the end of 
its useful life, that's essentially the next step in the 
process.
    In order to address your question about what do we do about 
some of the legacy systems, the older systems that remain up in 
higher orbits, I think the good news story there is there are 
companies that are coming online that are helping to fix that 
problem either in terms of robotics or other companies that are 
trying to find other methods to gather up some of the debris 
and, you know, potentially destroy or burn it up.
    I'll turn it over to Kevin.
    Senator Lummis. Thank you.
    Mr. O'Connell.
    Mr. O'Connell. Thank you, Senator.
    So, you know, we've been talking a lot about organizations 
and the Open Architecture Data Repository. We really have four 
tools in our toolkit. We may have more but we certainly have 
four.
    One is not creating new debris as we go up and there's some 
important technical developments in that area from academia and 
industry that are going to provide light coverage for 
satellites and things like that.
    Second is improving space situational awareness, third is 
space traffic management function, and the fourth is active 
debris removal.
    In addition to that, there's a whole emerging sector called 
Satellite Servicing which is going to help improve the life of 
satellites while in space. Further, space tugs will be able to 
move things from orbits to graveyard orbits, as they're 
affectionately referred, and other places. So there are options 
in our toolkit to deal with this.
    I think the active debris removal, we're seeing a lot of 
interest in this in Japan and in Europe. I know there are a 
number of companies in the United States that would like to see 
more of an emphasis, more of an investment in some of the basic 
technologies that they will need to do that, but we're not 
without a capability to deal with this in many different ways.
    Senator Lummis. Thank you.
    Dr. Holzinger.
    Dr. Holzinger. Thank you, Senator.
    So maybe there are two points I'd like to make on this 
topic. Number 1 is that most systems or methods, techniques to 
remove spacecraft from orbit, remove debris from orbit may 
appear to others to sometimes be dual use. So one person's 
rendezvous vehicle, you know, could have multiple potential 
interpretations, and so any time, you know, we're looking 
toward de-orbiting objects or managing debris, I think 
transparency is key in terms of what it is we're going to take 
down and de-orbit and why.
    There was a NASA study some years ago that suggested that 
de-orbiting five large rocket body style objects each year 
would freeze the current debris population, mitigate it to that 
extent. That was before, I think, many of the mega 
constellations had been proposed and begun to be launched and 
so I would imagine that that number is higher these days.
    The final points I'll briefly make, again being an 
academic, I get to see a lot of the new and latest research on 
these topics, just for awareness I will mention that the 
graveyard orbit above geo is also largely unstable in the long 
term and there are very few select orbits in the graveyard 
orbit that won't ultimately end up causing collision issues 
over the next 50 or hundred years.
    Senator Lummis. Thank you.
    Mr. Graziani.
    Mr. Graziani. Great question and glad you brought this up. 
I'll start off as Dr. Holzinger just mentioned, the graveyard 
orbit for geosynchronous.
    So the one thing that does happen now is operators, once 
their spacecraft are getting toward the end of life, will try 
to move their spacecraft from geosynchronous up to that.
    Now one of the things that's happening is there's more and 
more interest in orbits between the Earth and the Moon or 
Cislunar and so as that kind of pans out, that's more and more 
of a problem and more junk up there that previously we didn't 
actually go through that often because only interplanetary and 
to the moon.
    Next, I think this was mentioned a couple of times and I 
agree that pulling the large pieces of debris that are already 
up there down so they don't become thousands and tens of 
thousands of small pieces of debris is key. It's doable and 
something--and there are many different companies that are 
working on that and that's substantial, and then continuing to 
work backward here, there's at least one company that has 
proposed--Launch Space Technologies Corporation has proposed 
orbiting debris catching pads that will try to catch the very 
small debris, the debris that is not trackable. It's a very 
innovative approach and one of the companies that's--it's a 
U.S.-based company and they're looking to partner with both the 
DOC as well as NASA and even the Department of Defense to help 
that become a reality and that's in answer to small and 
trackable debris.
    Then continuing to go backward before that and the point 
you made, that is, that observing, having a much better space 
situational awareness system that allows us to know where 
everything is and then take action to prevent the collisions 
from happening is also key.
    Right now we're on track to have a major collision in low 
earth orbit roughly every 10 years and that problem is only 
getting worse and worse. So that the SSA side of this and the 
STM is a critical part of the answer to your question.
    Senator Lummis. Thank you. This is really helpful.
    Mr. Stroup.
    Mr. Stroup. My colleagues have done a good job of answering 
the question, but I would also add that SIA has developed a set 
of space safety principles and one element of it that hasn?t 
been touched upon is that most Leo satellites are designed to 
de-orbit and to burn up on re-entry. So our principals 
encourage addressing these issues as part of their operation 
commercially.
    Thank you for the question.
    Senator Lummis. Thank you all, panelists.
    I yield back to the Chairman, the gentleman from Colorado.
    Senator Hickenlooper. Thank you, Ranking Member Lummis.
    I'd now like to turn it over to the Chair of the overall 
Commerce Committee, the great Senator from Washington, Maria 
Cantwell.

               STATEMENT OF HON. MARIA CANTWELL, 
                  U.S. SENATOR FROM WASHINGTON

    The Chair. Thank you. Thank you, Senator Hickenlooper, and 
thank you and Senator Lummis for holding this important 
hearing. Thank you to all the witnesses who are here.
    This is a very important topic for many companies in the 
Pacific Northwest because we're continuing to focus on space in 
so many different ways. We like to think that we're the Silicon 
Valley of space issues.
    I think I've mentioned even in this committee I met people 
who told me they were working on materials for a space hotel. I 
thought they meant like in your backyard, giving you more space 
so your relatives could come and visit, like an REI solution. 
They said no, up there. I'm working on materials for up there. 
OK. So let's just say that people are planning ahead in the 
Pacific Northwest.
    So, Dr. Holzinger, what are the--you've been having this 
discussion about traffic and traffic management and I'm a firm 
believer in using all the information we can to develop a 
system for that because we're going to need to, but what can 
our universities do now? What is the appropriate role for some 
of these institutions that could help, you know, in doing this?
    Dr. Holzinger. Thank you, Senator Cantwell.
    Our universities have a couple of critical roles in this 
activity. Principally, especially at the R1 research 
universities, our activities center around researching the 
fundamental basic research and developing technologies that 
enable SSA/STM and improve those activities, so basic research 
and applied research to do those things.
    Another aspect of our endeavor in this front is to train 
the work force. So that means training Master's students, Ph.D. 
students to perform these activities, and, anecdotally, I might 
offer that across the country, approximately 300 Ph.D. students 
are graduated in aerospace each year but only a small fraction 
of those are actually in space.
    We've already heard from one Senator before that it's 
difficult to find engineers that are sufficiently trained in 
this activity and that's a challenge, you know, of course, that 
we face and that, of course, relates to our previous activity 
in research.
    Traditionally, Ph.D. students are funded on research for 
five-six years and, you know, continuity of funding for that 
research is a critical element of that activity.
    The Chair. So what would you think that study would look 
like or what would that degree be called?
    Dr. Holzinger. So that degree sits pretty squarely in what 
I would imagine to be aerospace engineering and turns out that 
the University of Colorado actually already has a graduate 
certificate on space domain awareness that ties together many 
of these aspects.
    Some of those aspects are physics-based, some are more 
information theory and controls-based, and others tie into 
things like human factors and how operators can actually 
interpret what's going on up on orbit and make sense out of 
those things.
    The Chair. Well, now that the deputy at NASA, Pam Melroy, 
she's basically said that this is a situation that's getting 
dire, so not a lot of commercial activity in the last 10 days. 
So what do you think commercial space perspective is on the 
situation?
    Dr. Holzinger. Could you repeat that last part?
    The Chair. The commercial space perspective on this issue, 
as we have people who are planning activities, and as the 
Deputy Director is calling it, we need a reliable space traffic 
system and the situation is getting dire. So how do you think 
about where we are with commercial activity and this issue and 
the urgency of getting something done?
    Dr. Holzinger. So in my opening statement, I'll repeat some 
of these statements, it's both inspiring and terrifying what 
the commercial space industry is doing. It's inspiring because 
it's an excellent thing. It's an excellent avenue to grow our 
economy and there's a lot of future potential and prosperity 
that we have the potential to reap in the future.
    It's terrifying in the sense that the current standards and 
methodologies that we use stem ultimately from the 1960s, 
1970s, and 1980s and haven't really leveraged the modern 
techniques that have been developed over the past couple 
decades and so from a university perspective, you know, I think 
that the best thing that we can do is to improve those means, 
methods, and techniques, and to have as much transparency and 
open information about those activities as possible on the 
commercial front.
    The Chair. And then identifying the type of technology we 
need because if we're talking about smaller objects and it's 
hard to track or hard to track their telemetry of how fast 
they're going, is that what we need?
    Dr. Holzinger. Absolutely. So elements of that in terms of 
infrastructure include things like more sensors with better 
detection thresholds, the ability to collect and fuse that 
information in close to real time, the ability to fuse that 
information also with current space weather and to be able to 
issue indications and warnings of potentially deleterious 
effects.
    The Chair. Thank you.
    Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you again for this hearing.
    Senator Hickenlooper. Thank you, Madam Chair.
    Now we're going to turn it over remotely to Senator Young 
from Indiana. He has a few questions to ask.
    Senator Young.

                 STATEMENT OF HON. TODD YOUNG, 
                   U.S. SENATOR FROM INDIANA

    Senator Young. Thank you, Chairman, and I, of course, want 
to thank the entire panel for your presence here today.
    When I spoke with Administrator Nelson during his 
nomination process, we discussed the gray zone of warfare. It's 
a form of combat that lies between the threshold of traditional 
warfare in areas like cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, 
robotics, and war.
    According to a recent unclassified threat assessment, 
numerous countries are attempting to capitalize on these 
potential vulnerabilities.
    I'll open this to the panel, but, Mr. O'Connell, first, 
please, I'll start with you. What steps can and should the 
Department of Commerce and NASA take to prevent other countries 
from interfering with or outright attacking our infrastructure 
in space and perhaps you could touch on whether or not further 
coordination is necessary with our national security agencies 
to combat these threats?
    Mr. O'Connell. Senator, thanks very much for the question 
and a dimension of this that we have not spoken about 
previously is the fact that the Department of Defense wanted to 
get out of the piece of the mission that we've been talking 
about, the commercial notifications, the private sector 
notifications, partly because of the growing security 
complexity in space.
    I don't believe the Commerce Department has any role in 
combat operations obviously, but we will obviously have 
awareness of a variety of activities that are underway in the 
private sector and, frankly, with our allies, as well.
    During my time at Commerce, we enjoyed discussions, not 
just general ones but also technical ones, with our 
Commonwealth allies, with our European allies, with Japan, and 
many, many others about the importance of a civil space traffic 
management system. The extent to which many of these things 
will be looked at in the open may actually deter people from 
doing things such as you speak about, Senator, and so I don't 
think the Commerce Department has a role on the military path 
part of that but certainly it is the reason why DoD wanted to 
get out of this piece of the mission, namely, to work on space 
domain awareness, as it's referred to, and the locational piece 
that we were taking over at Commerce certainly fueled their 
ability to move in that direction and deal with more serious 
security threats.
    Mr. Graziani. Mr. Chairman, if I could add to Mr. 
O'Connell's comments, one of the things that happens when 
commercial companies are providing space situational awareness 
for space traffic management to the Department of Commerce is 
that those systems stand up and in a similar way that imagery 
systems, commercial imagery systems kind of provide a full 
transparency out there, over and beyond what systems that the 
U.S. Government has provided by and operated by the National 
Reconnaissance Office, in the same way commercial space 
situational awareness capabilities can bring that similar 
transparency to things going on in space.
    So, for instance, right now some of these anti-satellite 
weapons that both China and Russia are launching are up there 
as satellites that are seen by these commercial SSA systems and 
are the commercial companies warn on those just like they warn 
on others and you'll have Russian signal intelligence 
satellites. They're getting very close to U.S. commercial 
communications satellites and the same thing with Chinese anti-
satellite weapons and so the commercial SSA systems by their 
nature bring a transparency that will help with that problem.
    Senator Young. I see, I see. Mr. Stroup, do you have any 
reflections as it relates to this topic, sir?
    Mr. Stroup. Yes. I'd like to address the cyber-security 
aspect of it.
    The SIA developed a set of cybersecurity best practices a 
few years ago. Most of our members, most commercial satellite 
companies sell to the Defense Department and coordinate with 
the DoD to make sure that they're compliant with DoD 
cybersecurity requirements. So it's an issue that the industry 
takes very seriously.
    Thank you.
    Senator Young. Sure. Anyone else?
    [No response.]
    Senator Young. OK. I would just note that, you know, 
there's obviously a convergence here between your national 
security assets that we have located in space and then what you 
might think of as an extension of our supply chain, our global 
positioning system satellites, you know, our various other 
space assets, you know, at a commercial level that are needed, 
and this distinction between traditional national security 
assets on the one hand and commercial assets on another, as 
we've seen with the shutdown of pipelines here in the United 
States, it's not become blurred. It's really become a race.
    So we're going to have to tear down the stovepipes and 
ensure that there's better coordination with our national 
security agencies moving forward.
    So if you have any further thoughts about this moving 
forward, I'd welcome the opportunity to work with any of the 
panelists.
    Thank you.
    Mr. O'Connell. Senator, I have one point on that. The 
extent to which supply chain issues are in play here obviously 
Commerce does play a key role.
    I'll make one observation, though, which is that in 
traditional space companies, larger space companies, there is 
more of a sensitivity to the de-orientation toward defense 
articles, et cetera, and so there is probably less 
vulnerability in the supply chain.
    What we found when we looked at some of the smaller 
entrepreneurial companies was that they were more exposed on 
the supply chain issue. So I think the balance will be as we 
tighten up our supply chains, we need to be careful not to 
choke off opportunities for American entrepreneurs to leverage 
friendly country technologies. It's an important issue.
    Senator Young. Yes. Thank you.
    Senator Hickenlooper. Point well taken. Thank you, Senator 
Young.
    Thank you all for your presence here today. Obviously 
Colorado's got 500 aerospace companies, 30,000 employees. We're 
just a reflection of how important this is, and I think you all 
have contributed to that recognition that this is a significant 
form of commerce and I think this is the right place where the 
responsibility has to reside and that the relationship between 
government and business and how we look at best practices 
versus regulatory frameworks is crucial.
    I think this committee is open to really hearing clearly as 
this work goes forward, hearing clearly without slowing down in 
any way the process, making sure that we respect that sense of 
urgency that you have all brought to the hearing is crucial.
    I want to thank the Ranking Member for filling in. I had to 
go to a vote where there was going to be a tie vote. So I could 
not be AWOL. Appreciate all your indulgence.
    The hearing record is going to remain open for two weeks, 
until August 5, 2021. Any other Senators who are listening are 
welcome to submit questions for the record should do so by July 
29, and we hope that your responses will be returned to the 
Committee by August 5. We give you all of like 6 days, 7 days 
to respond. We apologize but again the sense of urgency 
pervades.
    I want to thank everyone again just for your time and your 
effort. I couldn't help but recognize as we talk about the 
acceleration of the rate of change, right, in terms of space 
traffic that it is--on highway traffic and I realize this is a 
very loose analogy, but traffic increases up to a certain point 
and then there is a point where things stop. Accidents 
increase, traffic rate slows dramatically. The systems begins 
to fall apart, and I think in that loose sense this is an 
analogy that we're rapidly approaching that point where the 
dramatic increases in traffic are going to wreak havoc if we 
don't address them now and you're all doing that and again 
thank you all.
    With that, I bring this hearing to an adjournment.
    [Whereupon, at 11:31 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.]

                            A P P E N D I X

   Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Maria Cantwell to 
                              Karina Drees
    Question 1. Since the Obama Administration, space policy experts 
have debated whether the Department of Commerce or Department of 
Transportation is the appropriate home for civil space traffic 
management responsibilities. As I noted at the hearing, experts like 
Pamela Melroy, now the Deputy NASA Administrator, have said what 
matters most is committing to an agency and giving it the resources to 
succeed because the need for reliable space traffic management services 
is getting dire. What is the commercial space industry's perspective on 
this issue?
    Answer. The commercial space industry supports the Department of 
Commerce assuming civilian Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and Space 
Traffic Management (STM) responsibilities. Our industry recommendation 
is consistent with that of the National Academy of Public 
Administration report, which noted that Commerce is the most 
appropriate and most capable Federal agency for this important mission. 
We would encourage the Department of Commerce to expeditiously conclude 
the ongoing SSA study period with multiple outside entities and proceed 
into rapid development and deployment of an operational civilian SSA 
capability.
    Additionally, as Deputy Administrator Melroy highlighted, it is 
critical that any agency (in this case, Commerce) be provided 
sufficient resources and encouragement to successfully execute on this 
effort.
    It is also important to note that the Federal Communications 
Commission (FCC) maintains a role defining orbital debris regulations 
for U.S.-licensed communications systems. CSF respectfully encourages 
the Committee and FCC to work together in closing the regulatory 
loophole that enables foreign-licensed systems to waive into the U.S. 
market without complying with FCC orbital debris regulations. This 
situation increases risk for all satellite operators--both commercial 
and Government--and an effective STM regime would be incomplete without 
a uniform requirement on all companies serving the U.S. market, 
regardless of country of licensing.

    Question 2. A recent report by the JASON defense advisory panel 
found that, given the trajectory for upcoming satellite launches, we 
may be inching towards a point where certain orbits are so congested 
that they become unusable. But it is clear how much benefit modern 
society gains from space services, ranging from GPS to broadband that 
can reach rural, previously unserved areas. Amazon and SpaceX both have 
Washington state facilities dedicated to helping launch a total of 
between 15,000 and 45,000 satellites, with the goal of providing 
connectivity all over the world. In light of this report, what are some 
key actions the committee should consider taking, balancing space 
sustainability with enabling the important benefits that could be 
provided by the commercial space industry?
    Answer. The JASON report appropriately noted the work that 
commercial companies--many of which are CSF members--are doing in 
coordination with the U.S. Government and the scientific community to 
ensure a sustainable space environment. The report correctly highlights 
that non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite systems operating well 
above 600 km significantly increase the risk of persistent debris 
lasting decades, centuries, or longer in orbit--clearly a major 
challenge. At the same time, the report praises commercial satellite 
systems operating at or below this 600 km level due to the self-
cleaning nature of these orbits that eliminates the possibility of 
persistent orbital debris.
    CSF would encourage the committee to explore several key policy 
actions along with FCC and the Department of Commerce, specifically 
that NGSO satellite systems operating significantly above 600 km should 
not be licensed or should at least be subjected to far more stringent 
regulations than those operating below 600 km, including requirements 
for propulsive operations, mandatory deorbit within five years of end 
of system life, and comprehensive data sharing. Without these 
requirements, systems operating above this altitude create unacceptable 
risk for the entire space ecosystem.
                                 ______
                                 
    Response to Written Question Submitted by Hon. Edward Markey to 
                              Karina Drees
    Question. Could you please describe how commercial orbital 
servicing, assembly, and manufacturing capabilities might be used as an 
innovative solution to address the orbital debris issue? And specific 
to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, what kind of 
mission might the Agency support to demonstrate the ability of 
commercial orbital servicing, assembly, and manufacturing capabilities 
to mitigate orbital debris?
    Answer. CSF's more than 80 member organizations are proud to 
partner with NASA and other Federal R&D agencies to provide innovative 
solutions to advance the state of the art, enhance safety, and improve 
affordability in space exploration and utilization. Long-term, 
sustainable activity in space requires an integrated effort that 
includes the development of innovative capabilities like in-space 
manufacturing and spacecraft servicing. U.S. commercial industry has 
made great technical strides and significant private investments into 
development of technological capabilities around in-space robotic 
assembly and manufacturing, and these capabilities should be leveraged 
to the maximum extent possible through additional public-private 
partnerships. We look forward to continuing to bring the best of 
commercial industry to support America's leadership in space.
    On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing (OSAM) technologies 
provide key enabling capabilities for both the mitigation and removal 
of space orbital debris. With the development of mission modelling for 
rendezvous and proximity operations through servicing, manipulation of 
objects with precision robotics through assembly, and the manufacturing 
with attachment of objects through manufacturing, these methods can 
help mitigate orbital debris, along with responsible action by 
satellite system operators. By funding and focusing on this technology 
ecosystem, satellites can be equipped to be multi-functional with the 
capability of not only prolonging the life of an asset or increasing 
the capability of a spacecraft, but by using these same technologies to 
deorbit or place debris in places where it will not affect future 
missions into Earth's orbit. OSAM technologies are critical for both 
mitigating the existing debris problem with non-compliant objects and 
creating new space systems that are designed from the onset for 
sustainability, repair, and replacement in a way that doesn't make the 
issue worse.
    A demonstration of rendezvous and proximity operations that include 
assembly of a local payload or spacecraft would be a discrete mission 
that allows for multiple technology demonstrations of grabbing an 
object and then placing it along the spacecraft to be transported to a 
new location. This would be accomplished using robotics that are 
located on the servicing & assembly spacecraft as well as the mission 
modeling and planning that are required to be utilized for future OSAM 
missions.
                                 ______
                                 
    Response to Written Question Submitted by Hon. Ben Ray Lujan to 
                              Karina Drees
    Optical and Radio Telescopes. New Mexico houses one of the world's 
premier astronomical radio observatories, the Very Large Array. It can 
map large-scale structure of gas and molecular clouds in deep space and 
pinpoint ejections of plasma from supermassive black holes. The VLA is 
also a high-precision spacecraft tracker that NASA and ESA have used to 
keep tabs on robotic spacecrafts exploring the Solar System.

    Question 1. With recent commercialization focused around small-
satellite constellations, how will SSA and STM ensure that these 
constellations and their debris do not interfere with scientific 
research that utilizes optical and radio telescopes?
    Answer. CSF member companies are committed to protecting ground-
based radio and optical astronomy sites through responsible operations 
and by implementing key technological innovations like spacecraft 
darkening, phased array antenna technology that dynamically avoids 
sensitive radio astronomy sites, and more.
    Specifically, the JASON report appropriately highlights that 
several operators have a deep technical interchange with the scientific 
community, including with the Very Large Array, to collaboratively 
develop, test, and implement solutions to mitigate any impacts to 
astronomy instruments. CSF supports the National Science Foundation's 
Spectrum Innovation Initiative that helps to both increase spectrum 
available to commercial users while also ensuring no impact to radio 
astronomy systems.
    CSF shares the JASON report's concern relative to satellite systems 
operating above 600 km, specifically that these systems are visible for 
far longer each night and could create lasting concerns for ground-
based astronomy systems. NASA has also commented on the record that it 
supports lowering the altitude of NGSO satellite systems below 600 km.
    For satellite systems operating above 600 km, an effective SSA and 
STM regime is critical to ensuring that persistent orbital debris does 
not create lasting challenges from ground-based astronomy instruments. 
Accordingly, CSF would encourage regulatory action that require all 
satellite operators serving the U.S. market to (1) comply with the same 
orbital debris standards, instead of the current situation that enables 
foreign-licensed providers to avoid them; (2) provide high-fidelity 
tracking data into an open database (i.e., one operated by the 
Department of Commerce) accessible by all operators to reduce the risk 
of on-orbit conjunctions; and (3) ensure spacecraft de-orbit within 
five years of end of operational life.
                                 ______
                                 
   Response to Written Question Submitted by Hon. Raphael Warnock to 
                              Karina Drees
    Research Efforts. From the landing of the first man on the moon to 
NASA's more recent breakthrough with the Perseverance Rover, the United 
States has been a global pioneer in space exploration. As we look 
toward the emergence of commercial space flight, we must ensure we have 
reliable data and research on space situational awareness (SSA) and 
civil space traffic management (STM). Addressing the scientific and 
technological needs of the commercial space flight industry will be 
critical to the gathering SSA data and civil STM research.

    Question. How can Congress support the research efforts of the 
commercial spaceflight industry with regard to managing space traffic?
    Answer. CSF's more than 80 member organizations are proud to 
partner with NASA and other Federal R&D agencies to provide innovative 
solutions to advance the state of the art, enhance safety, and improve 
affordability in space exploration and utilization. Long-term, 
sustainable activity in space requires an integrated effort that 
includes the development of innovative capabilities like in-space 
manufacturing and spacecraft servicing. U.S. commercial industry has 
made great technical strides and significant private investments into 
development of technological capabilities around in-space robotic 
assembly and manufacturing, and these capabilities should be leveraged 
to the maximum extent possible through additional public-private 
partnerships. We look forward to continuing to bring the best of 
commercial industry to support America's leadership in space.
    On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing (OSAM) technologies 
provide key enabling capabilities for both the mitigation and removal 
of space orbital debris. With the development of mission modeling for 
rendezvous and proximity operations through servicing, manipulation of 
objects with precision robotics through assembly, and the manufacturing 
with attachment of objects through manufacturing, these methods can 
help mitigate orbital debris, along with responsible action by 
satellite system operators. By funding and focusing on this technology 
ecosystem, satellites can be equipped to be multi-functional with the 
capability of not only prolonging the life of an asset or increasing 
the capability of a spacecraft, but by using these same technologies to 
deorbit or place debris in places where it will not affect future 
missions into Earth's orbit. OSAM technologies are critical for both 
mitigating the existing debris problem with non-compliant objects and 
creating new space systems that are designed from the onset for 
sustainability, repair, and replacement in a way that doesn't make the 
issue worse.
    A demonstration of rendezvous and proximity operations that include 
assembly of a local payload or spacecraft would be a discrete mission 
that allows for multiple technology demonstrations of grabbing an 
object and then placing it along the spacecraft to be transported to a 
new location. This would be accomplished using robotics that are 
located on the servicing & assembly spacecraft as well as the mission 
modeling and planning that are required to be utilized for future OSAM 
missions.
    In addition, we encourage continued SSA research efforts with 
industry and academia to further characterize the spaceflight 
environment. The commercial satellite industry is highly motivated to 
operate safely, including avoiding debris creation, and responsible 
deorbiting practices. A growing in-space safety industry is emerging of 
ground based radars to collect more accurate SSA data, new AI and 
related software tools for automating and optimizing collision 
avoidance maneuvers. These efforts could all be improved by 
implementing the ``open-architecture data repository'' strategy that 
the Office of Space Commerce developed from 2018-2020, which was 
endorsed on by the National Academy of Public Administration in 2020, 
and funded by the Omnibus Appropriation for FY 2021. Dozens of 
spacecraft operators and support service providers are continuing to 
self-fund R&D to improve commercial SSA capabilities and look forward 
to working the U.S. Government to integrate their data into the OADR to 
allow continued and sustainable growth of Earth orbit utilization to 
address important telecommunication and environmental monitoring/
science needs of the American people.
                                 ______
                                 
   Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Maria Cantwell to 
                        Dr. Marcus J. Holzinger
    Research and Development Needs. There are over 100 million pieces 
of orbital debris circling the Earth. This debris poses a risk to human 
life, for instance on the International Space Station, but also to the 
aspirations of the burgeoning space industry, which has a footprint of 
nearly 100 companies in Washington state alone. The last time this 
Committee considered this issue, I was appalled to learn from Dr. 
Moriba Jah that there are large knowledge gaps in how orbital debris 
behaves in space, which we need to know if we are going to protect our 
people and our assets. The SPACE Act, which Ranking Member Wicker and I 
have passed twice through the Committee, includes funding for this 
necessary research.

    Question 1. What are the most pressing issues for further research 
and development and how best do you think our universities and 
companies can help resolve them?
    Answer. Thank you for your questions, Senator Cantwell. In the near 
term, candidate topics for research and development should be enabling 
and promise substantive impact on civil SSA (Space Situational 
Awareness)/STM (Space Traffic Management). These topics include:

   Investigation of basic SSA/STM algorithms non-Keplerian 
        orbits beyond GEO (Geosynchronous Earth Orbit)

   Discussion and modernization of state and uncertainty 
        representation for tracked objects · Fundamental and 
        operational research on SSA/STM human factors and cognitive 
        engineering regarding how decisions are rendered, and trust is 
        built, much like Air Traffic Control. We must understand human 
        SSA/STM operator workflow and interfaces with autonomous and 
        support algorithms.

   Advanced methods in data visualization and interpretation 
        should be pursued. STM is more complex than Air Traffic 
        Management (ATM), and methods developed for ATM are not 
        necessarily transferrable to STM.

   Investigate spaceflight safety, sustainability, and 
        commercial viability for orbit allocation strategies in LEO 
        (Low Earth Orbit), MEO (Medium Earth Orbit), and beyond GEO 
        · Methods and approaches to achieving cooperation and 
        consensus in developing norms of behavior and `rules of the 
        road' amongst commercial, government, academic, and 
        international stakeholders for SSA/STM. · Integration 
        and exploitation of new results in decision-making under 
        uncertainty in both centralized and decentralized sensor 
        tasking and decision support systems.

   Rigorous verification and validation methods to validate 
        spaceflight safety of commercial spacecraft and constellation 
        command and control algorithms without compromising proprietary 
        commercial information.

    Combined, these basic research problems and technologies offer the 
potential to drastically improve spaceflight safety, maintain our 
future access to space, and ensure sustained commercially viable 
enterprises. Further, if the United States is able to successfully 
answer these questions, we will both possess an authoritative and 
incontrovertible set of approaches for international leadership in SSA/
STM and will have, in the process, developed substantial domestic 
workforce resources necessary to execute successful civil SSA/STM. The 
research listed above is not exhaustive, however I wish to emphasize 
that properly answering these fundamental, enabling, and impactful 
problems will require $10-20M/year in sustained funding for at least a 
decade. Universities and companies can directly support these endeavors 
through federally funded and internal research and development efforts. 
Specific Federal programs are discussed in more detail in the following 
questions. As part of this research, I recommend that at least 1-2 SSA/
STM Centers of Excellence be competitively selected and funded. 
Successful centers should involve multiple universities, industry 
partners, and technical collaborators within OSC (Office of Space 
Commerce).

    Question 2. Given your experience as a researcher, what steps 
should the Federal government, including specific Federal agencies, 
take to help advance R&D required for space situational awareness and 
space traffic management?
    Answer. Below I enumerate three specific steps that the Federal 
government should take to facilitate advancement of required research 
and development for SSA/STM:

  1.  Sustained substantive funding for academia in basic research for 
        academia from OSC, AFOSR (Air Force Office of Scientific 
        Research), AFRL (Air Force Research Laboratory), NASA (National 
        Aeronautics and Space Administration), etc. This serves the 
        dual purpose of addressing the need for basic and applied 
        research and SSA/STM workforce development. Centers of 
        Excellence should be a component of this funding, but there 
        should be other smaller funding mechanisms available to include 
        excellent ideas that come from outside of these Centers of 
        Excellence.

  2.  In my original written statement, I proposed that the government 
        entity with mission authority (e.g., OSC) over civil SSA/STM 
        should have, as part of its mandate, some level of access, 
        visibility, and potentially input into research pursued by 
        other entities (such as AFOSR, AFRL, and NASA). We may consider 
        rotating research program officers from these constituent 
        organizations through such a coordination role to maximize 
        knowledge transfer, buy-in, and awareness amongst government-
        funded research programs in SSA/STM.

  3.  I wish to re-emphasize my proposed government-led SSA/STM decadal 
        survey from my original written testimony. We must leverage the 
        wisdom and technical expertise of the larger domain of SSA/STM 
        researchers and operational experts to inform what research 
        topics should be further explored. To do so, we should consider 
        following NASA's lead in engaging impartial entities (e.g., the 
        National Research Council, the National Academies, or other 
        groups) to conduct decadal surveys identifying promising 
        avenues of basic research and technology development. To ensure 
        these decadal survey reports capture research opportunities and 
        operational needs, I propose that government, industry, and 
        academic researchers and practitioners contribute to these 
        reports. These studies should be funded by the Federal agency 
        with mission authority (i.e., OSC).
                                 ______
                                 
   Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Kyrsten Sinema to 
                        Dr. Marcus J. Holzinger
    FCC Satellite Rules. Some have concerns that an industry ``best 
practices'' approach on space debris will not be able to ameliorate 
this issue. Some satellite operators may not abide by such industry 
practices given the relatively low cost of launching satellites into 
space and the competitive nature of the satellite business. Against 
this backdrop, some feel the FCC's satellite rules have not yet fully 
considered the number of satellites now coming into orbit nor do the 
rules contemplate the constellation of satellites that some satellite 
companies are launching into space.

    Question 1. What steps should the FCC consider pursuing to address 
this issue?
    Answer. Thank you, Senator Sinema, for your questions.
    The FCC is currently required to render licensing decisions without 
(1) sufficient SSA/STM community research and consensus into best 
practices, norms of behavior, and rules of the road, (2) independent 
analysis of proposed commercial architectures, and (3) deep internal 
expertise in astrodynamics, SSA/STM, relevant sensors, and human 
operations. The FCC should continue and expand their collaboration with 
the Department of Commerce Office of Space Commerce (OSC) and the USSF 
to bring our current orbit deconfliction and deorbit requirements into 
the 21st century. Development of norms of behavior, rules of the road, 
and orbit allocation/approval guidelines should engage federal, 
private, academic, and international stakeholders. Further, the FCC 
should consider transitioning orbit approval requests to OSC when those 
capabilities exist and focus on core FCC capabilities such as frequency 
allocations and licensing.

    Role of Universities to Study Space Situational Awareness (SSA). In 
your written testimony, you recommend establishing a Center of 
Excellence to study SSA, preferably at an institute of higher 
education. Arizona universities have a long history of partnering with 
NASA to study our solar system. Examples include the University of 
Arizona's Asteroid Science, Technology and Exploration Research 
Organized by Inclusive Education Systems (ASTROIDS) Lab and Arizona 
State University's Mars Space Flight Facility.

    Question 1. Why does it make sense for universities to host a 
proposed Center for Excellence for SSA? What criteria should be used 
when selecting an institute of higher education to host such a Center?
    Answer. Successful execution of a robust civil SSA/STM enterprise 
will require extensive supporting research as well as substantial 
existing workforce and workforce development resources. Consortiums of 
universities are the correct entity to host proposed Centers of 
Excellence for SSA/STM because (1) their core capabilities lie in basic 
and applied research and (2) they are the principal means by which SSA/
STM workforce development is performed. University-led Centers of 
Excellent address both fundamental research and workforce development 
needs while being extremely cost-effective with taxpayer funds. 
Criteria for selecting University teams for SSA/STM Centers of 
Excellence should include:

  1.  Excellent and highly impactful proposed basic research and 
        enabling technology development that both maximizes and trades 
        against spaceflight safety, future access to space, and 
        commercially efficient/profitable use of space.

  2.  Demonstrated existing basic and applied research and workforce 
        development in SSA/STM (as opposed to related fields, such as 
        Astronomy or Planetary Science).

  3.  Extensive throughput and high-quality SSA/STM training of 
        undergraduate, M.S., and Ph.D. students to support workforce 
        development needs.

  4.  Substantial existing research relationships with AFRL Space 
        Vehicles and Directed Energy Directorates and USSF operations 
        centers; proximity to these sites would be ideal.

  5.  Deep comprehension and understanding of existing USSF SSA/STM 
        methodologies and approaches, as well as a thorough 
        understanding of spacecraft and constellation operational 
        needs.

  6.  Extensive existing relationships and technology transfer with the 
        SSA/STM industry and commercial spacecraft operators; proximity 
        to these companies would be ideal.

  7.  Expertise in and access to electro-optical and radiofrequency 
        sensors to validate basic research and proposed technology 
        efficacy.

    Near-Earth Objects. In addition to materials orbiting the Earth, 
near-earth objects such as asteroids pose risks. The University of 
Arizona is leading NASA's Near-Earth Object Surveyor Mission, which 
will enhance our ability to detect any potential hazardous asteroid or 
comet that comes within 30 million miles of Earth's orbit.

    Question 1. Why is it important for NASA to keep track of all near-
earth objects that may collide with Earth?
    Answer. NASA's Planetary Defense enterprise's efforts to track and 
characterize all near Earth objects (NEOs) are important and 
complementary to SSA/STM needs for two principal reasons.
    First, NEOs and artificial spacecraft can and often do transition 
between sun-centric (heliocentric) regimes and the Earth-Moon system. 
We must necessarily track NEOs and artificial debris in heliocentric 
space to ensure timely and orderly handoff between Earth-Moon-focused 
SSA/STM activities and Planetary Defense concerns. I draw your 
attention to the recent `2020 SO' object detected by NASA's Planetary 
Defense enterprise that entered the Earth-Moon system in October 2020, 
whose trajectory possessed several Earth and Moon close-approaches. It 
was determined during this period that the 2020 SO object is likely a 
rocket booster from the 1967 Surveyor mission.
    Second, as we extend SSA/STM to cislunar and lunar regimes, most 
spacecraft and debris in these regimes will present telescope optical 
signatures that are remarkably similar to heliocentric NEOs. In the 
near future OSC will need to coordinate SSA/STM efforts in cislunar/
lunar space with NASA's Planetary Defense activities.
                                 ______
                                 
   Response to Written Question Submitted by Hon. Raphael Warnock to 
                               Tom Stroup
    Research Efforts. From the landing of the first man on the moon to 
NASA's more recent breakthrough with the Perseverance Rover, the United 
States has been a global pioneer in space exploration. As we look 
toward the emergence of commercial space flight, we must ensure we have 
reliable data and research on space situational awareness (SSA) and 
civil space traffic management (STM). Addressing the scientific and 
technological needs of the commercial space flight industry will be 
critical to the gathering SSA data and civil STM research.

    Question. How can Congress support the research efforts of the 
commercial spaceflight industry with regard to managing space traffic?
    Answer. For SIA members, space sustainability and a safe, 
predictable operating environment are vital to protect substantial on-
orbit investments and the services and networks they enable. As the 
number of users who rely on satellite-enabled services continues to 
increase, maintaining and enhancing the safety of the orbital 
environment is essential to the continued provision of communications, 
imagery, remote sensing, and other next-generation applications and 
services. Given industry needs, SIA is working to promote commercial 
innovation and solutions to: (i) build effective, feasible standards 
and guidelines for space sustainability; (ii) encourage the effective 
utilization of technologies, many of which have been created by U.S. 
companies, for space object tracking and SSA; and (iii)develop primary 
and supporting technologies to perform active debris removal, satellite 
servicing, and life extension missions.
    In addition to providing adequate funding for a civil SSA/STCM 
service within the Office of Space Commerce, Congress can assist 
industry by supporting space weather research and space debris 
characterization research, funding R&D for active debris removal 
technologies, and integrating commercial SSA/STCM efforts into the OSC 
Open Architecture Data Repository.
    Currently, a number of SIA members actively support research and 
development to further advance space weather models and forecasting 
tools (e.g., teaming with academic researchers to assimilate satellite-
based, space weather observations into coupled ionosphere-magnetosphere 
models), and to develop and improve understanding of space debris 
prevalence and behaviors (e.g., performing surveys and classification 
of debris objects and producing advanced orbit models to predict their 
future courses). The adequate funding of these activities is critical 
to the future of on-orbit operations for both government and commercial 
organizations, as space weather anomalies and debris-generated effects 
may cause not only the loss of singular satellites, but could cause the 
loss of satellite signals, including GPS, for days resulting in 
billions of dollars of loss to the U.S. economy.\1\ Accurate space 
weather prediction is also critical to determining orbital decay in LEO 
and minimizing debris on-orbit.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Goward, Dana. ``Racing the Sun to Protect America'', NextGov, 
14 May 2021, https://www.nextgov.com/ideas/2021/05/racing-sun-protect-
america/174029/
    \2\ Space Weather Phase 1 Benchmarks, Report by the Space Weather 
Operations, Research, and Mitigation Subcommittee, Committee on 
Homeland and National Security of the National Science & Technology 
Council, June 2018 https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/
uploads/2018/06/Space-Weather-Phase-1-Benchmarks-Report.pdf
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    While commercial organizations are actively working on debris 
remediation mechanisms including active debris removal, the global 
impact and potential long-term effects of space debris will require 
government funding for debris remediation. Today, the top 50 most 
dangerous pieces of space debris are almost entirely rocket bodies 
launched by national governments,\3\ suggesting that government 
financing of debris removal technologies will be critical to 
maintaining a sustainable space environment.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\ O'Callaghan, Jonathan. ``These Are The 50 Most Dangerous 
Objects Orbiting Earth Right Now'', Forbes, 20 September, 2020, https:/
/www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanocallaghan/2020/09/10/experts-reveal-the-
50-most-dangerous-pieces-of-space-junk-orbiting-earth-right-now/?sh=3
729fe7d7c21
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    Finally, several versions of commercial SSA and STCM services exist 
today to augment government systems in a highly complementary way. The 
continued development and adoption of both government and commercial 
services in a further research and development efforts to create a 
diverse STCM system will improve accuracy of decision-grade information 
for space operators.
    Funding needs for further research and development to enhance this 
critical mission of space safety should come exclusively from the 
responsible organization(s), and should only be requested when 
capabilities are not already available through existing sources, 
including other government agencies and government funded labs, 
universities, and, most especially, commercial organizations.
                                 ______
                                 
Response to Written Questions Submitted by Hon. Shelley Moore Capito to 

                               Tom Stroup
    Question 1. Orbital debris has become a challenging and potentially 
dangerous obstacle for satellites. Through NASA's OSAM-1 program, West 
Virginia's Robotic Technology Center has been able to develop and 
advance technology that would extend the lifespans of existing 
satellites. I have mentioned this before, but I am proud of the work 
being done in West Virginia and feel this capability can be a solution.
    Could you speak to some of your members' current or upcoming 
capabilities for avoiding collisions?
    What are some measures the satellite industry are taking--that the 
Federal government could learn from--to foster safe and efficient use 
of the shared space environment?
    Answer. SIA takes stewardship of the space environment very 
seriously. SIA released its set of Space Safety Principles in 2019 \1\ 
as a model for sustainable space best practices for all space 
stakeholders, and SIA's space safety working group regularly engages 
across U.S. government organizations as well as the United Nations on 
space safety issues. Indeed, maintaining a safe space environment is 
critical to the successful economic utilization of space. Commercial 
satellite network operators emphasize different aspects of space safety 
approaches, depending on their orbital regime, licensing status, 
spacecraft type, etc., in general the measures taken by our members 
include: (1) designing spacecraft with high reliability and the ability 
to maneuver; (2) sharing information on the location and future 
location of spacecraft to other owners and operators, and working 
closely with the U.S. Government in sharing data with complete 
transparency; (3) developing and implementing collision avoidance 
technology and methods in cooperation with the U.S. Government; and (4) 
deorbiting satellites in a timely manner at end-of-life to ensure that 
``space junk'' is not left in active orbits.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Space Safety Principles, Satellite Industry Association, 2019 
https://sia.org/policy/space-debris-mitigation-sustainability/
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    SIA's members work to be leaders in managing the space environment, 
particularly by openly sharing information about their own positions 
and intentions. However, not all space objects are controlled with 
similarly high levels of responsibility. Broken pieces of rockets, 
satellites which did not safely deorbit before they reached the ends of 
their lives, and other types of debris are present in all orbital 
regimes. These objects cannot move to avoid a collision and do not 
communicate their own positions; responsible space operators must act 
unilaterally to avoid them.
    While the U.S. Department of Defense nominally tracks all these 
objects and publishes their positions for free, even DoD-supplied 
information about such a complex and dynamic situation can be imprecise 
and outdated. At best, this leads to inefficiency when collision 
avoidance is practiced needlessly; at worst it may provide an unmerited 
sense of security that could lead to incidents. Multiple U.S. 
commercial providers, ranging from small businesses to major 
contractors, have stepped into the gap by collecting data independently 
and offering advanced analytics and more precise collision warnings. As 
the profile of active satellites grows and evolves rapidly over the 
next decade, both government-provided and government-backed commercial 
SSA systems will become even more critical to space safety.
    The Federal government can fully fund a civil authority on space 
traffic, which would support spaceborne activity by using sensors and 
available data to observe and track satellites and debris at all 
altitudes. A civil authority on space traffic, such as the Office of 
Space Commerce, could promulgate regulations that ensure space safety 
while maintaining an understanding of the need to address economic 
impact. Such an authority could also manage programs to collect timely 
data and perform enhanced analyses, making optimal use of unique U.S. 
commercial capability in pursuit of the global good of safe and 
efficient spaceways.
    It is important to note, as I stated in my testimony, that not all 
operators adhere to the same rules and standards, and most foreign 
administrations do not have robust orbital debris regulations--the U.S. 
clearly has the most robust regulations today, and steps should be 
taken to ensure that the U.S. continues to lead the regulatory 
environment here while not rewarding foreign licensed systems that 
evade U.S. regulations.

    Question 2. According to the Forest Service, just over 75 percent 
of West Virginia is made of forested land. With the introduction of low 
earth orbit (LEO) systems to the broadband ecosystem, I am curious to 
the amount of open sky needed to operate ground terminals.
    Are you able to speak to the potential relief these LEO Internet 
service providers (ISPs) could bring to unserved West Virginians?
    Are there concerns that heavily forested areas, like many areas in 
West Virginia, may not be able to access these services due to 
interference?
    Answer. Today the commercial geostationary and non-geostationary 
orbit satellites are bringing broadband services across the country 
including West Virginia. Next generation satellite systems operating in 
low Earth orbit are bringing high-speed, low-latency broadband across 
the country, including to West Virginia. These systems are already 
bringing previously unserved West Virginians broadband with speeds 
exceeding 100 Mbps and latency below 30 milliseconds, which is on par 
with most terrestrial services.
    Due to the propagation of the radio-frequencies allocated to next-
generation satellite services both within the U.S. and globally, 
service is best when a user has as clear a view of the sky as possible, 
and heavy tree coverage can degrade service, especially early on in a 
system's deployment. The amount of open sky required for optimal 
service varies by provider, depending on how many satellites the 
provider has in operation, the altitude of operations, and the specific 
frequencies used for communications to user equipment. For instance, 
with only a limited number of satellites deployed, a user may need a 
wider view of the sky to ensure a direct line of sight to a satellite 
in orbit. But that also means that the viewing angle will decrease with 
time as these systems are more fully deployed. As more satellites 
operate in orbit, users will need a smaller viewing angle to be sure at 
least one satellite is in view at all times.
    For LEO systems early on, the general recommendation is to have a 
clear field of view of 100 degrees around the center of the user 
equipment, and a higher elevation (i.e., placement on a roof or a pole 
rather than on the ground). However, as more satellites are launched, 
these field of view constraints will decrease, enabling a wider variety 
of users. Again, these constraints and solutions will vary by system.

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