US Space Policy Directive-3: National Space Traffic Management Policy

Abstract

The issues of space situational awareness (SSA) and space traffic management (STM) have come increasingly to the fore as a result of a growing number of proposals to deploy an ever increasing number of satellite constellations that are populated by a huge number of small satellites. There have been new efforts to provide much-improved tracking of these satellites through the deployment of the new S-band radar system by the United States on the Marshall Islands that will be able to track orbital debris and satellites of a size of marble and as many as 400,000 to 500,000 space objects. There are also many new initiatives to provide private tracking capability of space debris through the use of optical telescopes as well as radar systems.

There are also a number of new ideas as to how national regulatory systems might provide expanded space traffic management and space traffic control capabilities. The US Space Policy Directive-3 issued on June 18, 2018, set forth in some detail how the United States might approach both the issues of improved space situational awareness, especially in low Earth orbit (LEO), and improved approaches to space traffic control. This US Space Policy Directive-3 is perhaps most significant in that it sets for the idea that there should be separate approaches with regard to commercial satellite tracking and traffic control and such activities with regard to national defense activities. The main purpose of this chapter is to provide the full text of US Space Policy Directive-3.