How the US National Space Council Should Approach Space Traffic Management

Friday, September 22, 2017

SWF Director of Program Planning Dr. Brian Weeden published a commentary piece in the September 11 issue of SpaceNews on the policy aspects of space traffic management (STM). In the piece, Dr. Weeden describes why STM is an important issue for ensuring the sustainable future of space activities and achieving the goals the Trump Administration has laid out for US leadership in space. Dr. Weeden lays out five specific issues the Trump Administration's revived National Space Council should tackle:

• Creating a civil authority for providing space situational awareness (SSA) in support of safety of spaceflight
• How to leverage private sector capabilities for providing SSA data and services
• Linking civil SSA to modernizing US government oversight of private sector space activities
• Engagement with the international community on SSA and STM
• Determining the principles the United States wants to promote in discussions on future space governance regimes

The full article can be read at SpaceNews here.