House Lawmakers Introduce Legislation on Space Situational Awareness – By Kirsten Errick (Nextgov) / Dec 15, 2022
The bill will fund Commerce Department capabilities and NASA research and development on space situational awareness, which can help identify and locate satellites or orbital debris in current and future locations.
As space is becoming increasingly congested, lawmakers introduced a bill on Wednesday designed to add civilian agency components to space situational awareness to help create safe space operations amid growing concerns of orbital debris.
House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics Chairman Don Beyer, D-Va., and Rep. Donald Norcross, D-N.J., introduced the Space Safety and Situational Awareness Transition Act of 2022. According to the announcement, space situational awareness “provides a foundation for understanding where space objects are now, predicting their future trajectories, and evaluating the risk of potential collisions to operating satellites and human spaceflight safety.”
Specifically, the legislation gives the Commerce Department civil space situational awareness capability to help spaceflight safety and sustainability and supports NASA research and development related to space situational awareness. It provides $95 million for Commerce and $50 million for NASA in fiscal year 2024 to perform these functions.
