As the country’s air traffic control issues reached a tipping point earlier this year, President Donald Trump attempted to shift all of the blame for the decades-long systemic decline to the Biden administration. However, the failed airline mogul sitting behind the Resolute Desk is planning to scrap the Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS). The NOAA-operated civilian system was being developed to manage all satellite traffic, taking the responsibility from the Department of Defense. The U.S. Space Force and the entire private space industry are telling Congress this is a recipe for disaster.
The White House’s proposed 2026 discretionary budget would see an 84% cut for NOAA’s Office of Space Commerce, Reuters reports. The financial blow would shutter TraCSS before it’s fully introduced. According to the agency, an initial version was launched in September 2024 to beta users with a full rollout slated for 2026. It’s safe to say that abruptly killing off the program was met with universal disapproval. Over 450 private space companies sent a letter to Capitol Hill begging for a reversal. The industry signatories included the country’s two satellite constellation operators, SpaceX and Amazon’s Project Kuiper. The letter reads:
“Helping the U.S. space industry operate safely in an increasingly congested space domain ensures space-based services like broadband internet and weather forecasting are available to the American people. Likewise, a safe space operating environment is vital for continuity of national security space missions such as early warning of missile attacks on deployed U.S. military forces. Without funding for space traffic coordination, U.S. commercial and government satellite operators would face greater risks – putting critical missions in harm’s way, raising the cost of doing business, and potentially driving U.S. industry to relocate overseas.”
No, the Space Force doesn’t want this job back
Yes, the closure would impact national security. The Space Force is also opposed to TraCSS being shuttered. The military branch that Trump signed into existence in 2019 argues that it had always planned on shifting space traffic management to civilian control, according to Air & Space Forces Magazine. The Space Force no longer wants to devote resources to serving as a call center to inform satellite operators of potential collisions, allowing its squadrons to protect American interests in orbit. A dedicated civilian organization would be better equipped to keep the growing number of objects in space safe and fully intact.
Collisions between satellites in orbit on their own would be disastrous as the cloud of debris would impact space operations. Things become catastrophic when you consider the services those satellites provide: navigation, telecommunications, weather forecasting, and the previously mentioned ballistic missile early warning. It’s literally self-destructive to shut down TraCSS. While it would save $55 million as a line item in the budget, it could potentially cost billions in lost economic growth for the space industry and genuinely risk the country’s security. I assume Trump will change his mind with the right amount of kowtowing in the Oval Office.
