[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 70 (Thursday, April 11, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14645-14647]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-07169]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Office of the Secretary

RIN 0690-ZA03


Request for Information on Commercial Capabilities in Space 
Situational Awareness Data and Space Traffic Management Services

AGENCY: Office of Space Commerce, U.S. Department of Commerce, National 
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Commerce (Department), via the Office 
of Space Commerce, seeks information from interested parties on: 
Specific capabilities commercial entities might currently and in the 
future provide through an open architecture data repository to the 
public to enhance the space situational awareness (SSA) data and the 
space traffic management (STM) services the U.S. government currently 
provides; SSA, STM, and orbital debris mitigation best practices; and 
perspectives on the appropriate regulatory structures the Department 
should adopt to drive the development and responsible use of such SSA 
and STM enhancements in order to protect national interests and further 
encourage U.S. commercial space investment.

DATES: Submit written comments on or before May 13, 2019.

ADDRESSES: The public may submit written comments on issues addressed 
in this Notice by either of the following methods:
     Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public 
comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to 
www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=DOC-2019-0001, click the ``Comment 
Now!'' icon, complete the required fields, and enter or attach your 
comments.
     Mail: Submit written comments to Patrick Sullivan, U.S. 
Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, Room 53027, 
Washington, DC 20230.
    Instructions: Comments must be submitted by one of the above 
methods to ensure that the comments are received, documented, and 
considered by the Department. Comments sent by any other method, to any 
other address or individual, or received after the end of the comment 
period, may not be considered. All comments received are a part of the 
public record and will generally be posted for public viewing on 
www.regulations.gov without change. All personal identifying 
information (e.g., name, address) submitted voluntarily by the sender 
will be publicly accessible. Do not submit confidential business 
information, or otherwise sensitive or protected information. The 
Department will accept anonymous comments (enter ``N/A'' in the 
required fields if you wish to remain anonymous).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Patrick Sullivan, Office of Space 
Commerce, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue NW, 
Room 53027, Washington, DC 20230; [email protected]; (202) 482-6167. 
Please direct media inquiries to Office of Public Affairs; via email 
to: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Leveraging Commercial Innovation To Enhance Existing Federal SSA/STM 
Data

    The President and the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) have taken 
significant steps to ensure that the U.S. continues to lead the world 
in innovation and economic prosperity from space operations, research, 
and communications. On February 21, 2018, in accordance with prior law 
and practice, the National Space Council recommended that the President 
make the Department of Commerce (Department) responsible for a variety 
of commercial space regulatory functions.\1\ Similarly, the President 
recognized that the U.S. ``must set priorities for space situational 
awareness (SSA) and [space traffic management (STM)] innovation in 
science and technology (S&T), incorporate national security 
considerations, encourage growth of the U.S. commercial space sector, 
establish an updated STM architecture, and promote space safety 
standards and best practices across the international community'' and 
placed responsibility for addressing commercial SSA and STM services 
upon the Department.\2\ Nongovernmental SSA solutions are being 
developed that could significantly improve, beyond the current 
provisioning of SSA data and limited STM services by the Federal 
government, the ability to detect and characterize space objects and 
these improvements could further enhance integration of SSA and STM 
cooperation between US government and non-governmental space operators.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ See Record of Decision, National Space Council, NSpC ROD-
2018-01 (Feb. 21, 2018), 5.
    \2\ See Space Policy Directive-3, National Space Traffic 
Management Policy, 83 FR 28969 (Jun. 21, 2018) (SPD-3).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Reflective of these commercial innovations, on June 18, 2018, the 
President issued Space Policy Directive-3, the National Space Traffic 
Management Policy (SPD-3), charging the Department to take significant 
actions regarding commercial SSA and STM services.\3\ While recognizing 
that U.S. citizens, businesses, and national interests depend heavily 
on space technologies and space-based capabilities, the President made 
clear that the increasing congestion in space threatens both current 
uses of space and future investments to grow the space economy.\4\ For 
the purposes of this RFI, both SSA and STM are defined in Section 2 of 
SPD-3.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \3\ See id.
    \4\ See id. at 28969.
    \5\ See id. at 28970 (defining SSA as ``the knowledge and 
characterization of space objects and their operational environment 
to support safe, stable, and sustainable space activities'' and STM 
as the planning, coordination, and on-orbit synchronization of 
activities to enhance the safety, stability, and sustainability of 
operations in the space environment.''

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

[[Page 14646]]

    The President acknowledged the critical existing SSA and STM 
function the Department of Defense currently provides: ``Already, the 
Department of Defense (DoD) tracks over 20,000 objects in space, and 
that number will increase dramatically as new, more capable sensors 
come online and are able to detect smaller objects. DoD publishes a 
catalog of space objects and makes notifications of potential 
conjunctions (that is, two or more objects coming together at the same 
or nearly the same point in time and space).'' \6\ The President stated 
that, pursuant to 10 U.S.C. 2274, a basic level of SSA data in the form 
of the publicly releasable portion of the DoD catalog is, and should 
continue to be, provided free of direct user fees.\7\ The President 
directed the Secretary and the Secretary of Defense, in coordination 
with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Transportation, the 
NASA Administrator, and the Director of National Intelligence, to 
develop a plan for providing basic SSA data and basic STM services 
either directly or through a partnership with industry or academia.\8\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \6\ See id. at 28969.
    \7\ See id.
    \8\ Id. at 28975.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    However, the President cautioned that the bounds of current Federal 
capabilities are tested by the dramatic increase in commercial space 
activity: ``As the number of space objects increases, however, this 
limited traffic management activity and architecture will become 
inadequate. At the same time, the contested nature of space is 
increasing the demand for DoD focus on protecting and defending U.S. 
space assets and interest.'' \9\ The President also emphasized the need 
to partner with private industry to ``develop a new approach to [STM] 
that addresses current and future operational risks'' and ``set 
priorities for [SSA] and STM innovation in science and technology 
(S&T), incorporate national security considerations, encourage growth 
of the U.S. commercial space sector, establish an updated STM 
architecture, and promote space safety standards and best practices 
across the international community.'' \10\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \9\ Id. at 28969.
    \10\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The President specifically noted the promise commercial innovation 
holds for enhanced SSA and STM: ``As additional sources of space 
tracking data become available, the United States has the opportunity 
to incorporate civil, commercial, international, and other available 
data to allow users to enhance and refine this service.'' \11\ To 
realize this promise, the President directed the Department and other 
Federal agencies to develop a number of initiatives that will leverage 
publicly available SSA and STM data, spur commercial development and 
use of enhanced SSA/STM data, and develop procedures and regulations, 
if necessary, to protect national security and U.S commercial assets in 
space. The President established the following goals that the 
Department and other agencies must realize pursuant to his directive:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \11\ Id. at 28972.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (a) Advance SSA and STM Science and Technology (S&T);
    (b) Mitigate the effect of orbital debris on space activities;
    (c) Encourage and facilitate U.S. commercial leadership in S&T, 
SSA, and STM;
    (d) Provide U.S. government-supported basic SSA data and basic STM 
services to the public;
    (e) Develop STM standards and best practices;
    (f) Prevent unintentional radio frequency (RF) interference;
    (g) Improve the U.S. domestic space object registry; and
    (h) Develop policies and regulations for future U.S. orbital 
operations.\12\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \12\ See id. at 28973.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In order to meet the goals related to leveraging non-governmental 
SSA and STM capabilities, the Department issues this Notice seeking 
stakeholder insight. The insight obtained from this Notice will drive 
the Department's efforts to make basic and enhanced SSA data and STM 
services available to the public and develop standards for responsible 
commercial use of STM and SSA data to protect national security and 
commercial space investments.

II. Request for Comment

A. Commercial Enhanced SSA/STM Capabilities

    The President required the Department to develop the standards and 
protocols for creation of an open architecture SSA/STM data repository 
to facilitate greater data sharing with satellite operators and enable 
the commercial development of enhanced space safety services. The 
repository must include:
    (1) Data integrity measures to ensure data accuracy and 
availability;
    (2) Data standards to ensure sufficient quality from diverse 
sources;
    (3) Measures to safeguard proprietary or sensitive data, including 
national security information;
    (4) The inclusion of satellite owner-operator ephemerides to inform 
orbital location and planned maneuvers; and
    (5) Standardized formats to enable development of applications to 
leverage the data.\13\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \13\ See id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    To facilitate the development of this open architecture data 
repository, the Department seeks public input on key aspects of current 
and future non-governmental SSA and STM products, technologies, and 
approaches that will enhance current publicly available SSA data and 
STM services. Specifically, the Department seeks information on:
    (1) In the context of SPD-3, \14\ what specific capabilities could 
commercial entities currently provide through an open architecture data 
repository to enhance the limited STM services and SSA data the U.S. 
government provides to the public? These capabilities can include, but 
not are not limited to, developments in sensing, analytics, 
visualization, data sharing, and data management.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \14\ The Department acknowledges that, in 2016, the Federal 
Aviation Administration (FAA) released a report on commercial STM 
and SSA data, titled: ``Evaluating Options for Civil Space 
Situational Awareness (SSA)''. The report can be found at https://www.ida.org/idamedia/Corporate/Files/Publications/STPIPubs/2016/P-8038.pdf. The Department appreciates the FAA's work on this report 
and will collaborate further with the FAA to complement 
stakeholder's input into this inquiry with this report's relevant 
findings.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (2) How will those commercial capabilities, servicing both 
government-sponsored and non-government-sponsored activities change in 
the next 10 years, and what emerging commercial capabilities will 
develop in that time?
    (3) What attributes of an open architecture STM/SSA data repository 
are essential to providing accurate data to mitigate risk of collision 
and enable SSA and STM services?
    (4) What service-oriented open architecture data repository models 
and examples should guide the Department as it develops the open 
architecture SSA/STM data repository? These models and examples should 
highlight maximum use and exploration across sensitive, 
multidimensional data sources and tools while protecting any 
sensitivity of these data.
    (5) What STM-related incentives, such as regulatory approaches to 
orbital debris mitigation, will encourage industry to make America 
their flag of choice for commercial space activities?

[[Page 14647]]

    (6) What actions will strengthen partnerships in effective 
development of SSA and STM services?

B. STM, SSA, and Orbital Debris Mitigation Best Practices

    The President made clear that, alone, the SSA/STM open architecture 
data repository will not sufficiently protect U.S. national and 
commercial interests in space; minimum safety standards and best 
practices must be adopted in the United States and globally to utilize 
SSA/STM data to mitigate risk of collision and address the growing 
orbital debris issue threatening current and future space operation. 
The President directed the Department to lead a global effort to 
develop minimum safety standards and best practices that promote safe 
and responsible behavior in space.\15\ Already, the Department is 
considering national and international activities, such as those under 
development in the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 
and the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \15\ See id. at 28970.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    To develop these space traffic standards and best practices, the 
Department seeks information on:
    (1) In the context of enhanced SSA/STM data, what best practices, 
technical guidelines, minimum safety standards, behavioral norms, and 
orbital deconfliction protocols should be adopted by the United States? 
Of these, are there any that should only be adopted in the United 
States if they are also adopted globally? If globally, what is the 
appropriate forum for such adoption?
    (2) What pre-launch and on-orbit collision avoidance support 
services or technologies exist that will mitigate risk of collision, 
and improve situational awareness, and how should they be incorporated 
into best practices?
    (3) What U.S. actions might incentivize global adherence to SSA/STM 
standards and compliance with space treaty obligations?
    (4) What research methods for tracking whether international 
commercial entities are implementing such standards and best practices 
will assist in facilitating global adoption of a standards set of SSA/
STM best practices?

C. Appropriate SSA/STM-Related Regulations To Spur U.S. Space Commerce

    In coalescing his SSA/STM directives into specific agency actions, 
the President required the Secretaries of Defense, Commerce, and 
Transportation, in coordination with the Secretary of State, the NASA 
Administrator, and the Director of National Intelligence, to regularly 
evaluate emerging trends in space missions and recommend revisions, as 
appropriate and necessary, to existing SSA and STM policies and 
regulations.\16\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \16\ See id. at 28976.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Department is actively engaged internally and in coordination 
with other agencies to assess how existing regulations related to STA/
SSM and orbital debris mitigation are working and what changes are 
needed to implement the President's Space Policy Directives. To further 
inform Department regarding the policies or regulations needed to 
protect Federal and commercial space interests and enable significant 
growth in U.S. space commerce investment, the Department seeks 
information on:
    (1) What existing policies and regulations, across agencies, 
positively and negatively enhance SSA/STM use and related orbital 
debris mitigation? \17\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \17\ To the extent commenters discuss any existing or proposed 
regulations of another agency, the Department will provide those 
comments to the agency referenced.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (2) How do such existing policies and regulations encourage U.S. 
and allied space commerce investment, and how should they be revised?
    (3) What emerging trends in space missions and proposed commercial 
spaceflight activity, including spacecraft safety standards, protection 
requirements, satellite tracking standards, and satellite control 
standards, impact existing and future SSA and STM policies and 
regulations? How should these trends drive revision to those policies 
and regulations?
    (4) How can the proper regulatory environment drive a space 
activity insurance market that encourages investment?
    (5) What, if anything, should the Federal government do to 
encourage insurance parameters for space activities that will encourage 
responsible space activities and make the U.S. the flag of choice for 
leading space innovators?
    (6) Are there any other policies or regulations that the Department 
should consider in the context of SSA, STM, and orbital debris 
mitigation in order to promote the United States as the flag of choice 
for space commerce?
    (7) What specific capabilities and technologies could commercial 
entities provide to characterize the small, millimeter-sized orbital 
debris population to improve the orbital debris impact risk assessments 
to support the development and implementation of cost-effective 
protective measures for the safe operations of future space missions?

III. Request for Public Comment and Ex Parte Communications

    The Department invites public comment on any and all issues 
identified in this Notice. Any non-public oral presentation to the 
Department regarding the substance of this Notice will be considered an 
ex parte presentation, and the substance of the meeting will be placed 
on the public record and become part of this docket. No later than two 
(2) business days after an oral presentation or meeting, an interested 
party must submit a memorandum to OSC summarizing the substance of the 
communication and attaching any documents presented in the meeting. The 
Department reserves the right to supplement the memorandum with 
additional information as necessary, or to request that the party 
making the filing do so, if the Department believes that important 
information was omitted or characterized incorrectly. Any written 
presentation provided in support of the oral communication or meeting 
will also be placed on the public record and become part of this 
docket. Such ex parte communications must be submitted to this docket 
as provided in the ADDRESSES section above and clearly labeled as an ex 
parte presentation. Federal entities are not subject to these 
procedures.

Kevin O'Connell,
Director, Office of Space Commerce, U.S. Department of Commerce.
[FR Doc. 2019-07169 Filed 4-8-19; 11:15 am]
 BILLING CODE P