WASHINGTON — A House appropriations bill would reverse plans by the administration to stop development of a civil space traffic management system.
The commerce, justice and science (CJS) spending bill approved by the House Appropriations Committee on May 13 included $50 million for the Office of Space Commerce within the Commerce Department. The department had requested just $11 million for the office in its budget proposal in April.
The bill’s report included language supporting continued work on the Traffic Coordination System for Space, or TraCSS. That is a civil space traffic coordination system under development by the office as authorized by the first Trump administration’s Space Policy Directive 3, or SPD-3, in 2018.
TraCSS “is on track to deliver critical flight safety services to be used by all stakeholders,” the report stated, emphasizing the role of a “systems integrator” to develop and operate it. “The Committee expects NOAA to continue development of TraCSS through use of a systems integrator.”
That language appears to reject the administration’s proposal, which sought to “containerize the beta version of TraCSS for historical reference” while working on a “new operating and financial structure” for it. That would include the potential incorporation of user fees, something officials said in March they were studying after an executive order in December removed a provision in SPD-3 requiring space safety information to be provided free of charge.
The administration also proposed canceling TraCSS in its 2026 budget proposal, complaining the effort was years behind schedule and that private industry could provide the space safety services TraCSS was intended to offer. Congress, though, pushed back against that effort and sought to at least partially restore funding.
The final fiscal year 2026 spending bill provided $52.5 million for the Office of Space Commerce, allowing work on TraCSS to continue. However, work is proceeding at a slower pace than plans last year, before the release of the budget proposal, to have the initial version of the system fully operational by January 2026.
“TraCSS remains a top departmental priority,” the office states on its website. “The Office of Space Commerce is progressing deliberately toward meeting the TraCSS program’s goals, with the department’s current focus on retiring known risks in its production environment before publishing an updated integrated schedule.”
A presentation about TraCSS by the office states that, as of April 17, it had 35 pilot users of the system that operate a combined 10,696 satellites. It is maintaining a waitlist of spacecraft owner-operators who want to join the pilot program, and the presentation noted that public access to the system is “coming soon.”
Interestingly, the House bill funds the Office of Space Commerce as part of NOAA. The office has been part of NOAA for years, but an executive order last year directed its transfer to the Office of the Secretary of Commerce. The department’s 2027 budget proposal funded the office through its departmental management budget and not through NOAA. The House bill and report did not explain why appropriators kept funding for the office within NOAA.
