The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Space Commerce is soliciting public comments on the third draft on an international standard for space traffic coordination. The space operations working group of a technical committee under the International Organization for Standardization, or ISO, developed the document to promote safety and efficient space use, OSC said Thursday.
It added that the draft standards define the requirements of a system for space traffic coordination, or STC, providing readily available, timely, complete and accurate services. The STC system is critical to the standards on data sharing and coordination in space situational awareness, essential elements in the Traffic Coordination System for Space that it is developing, OSC noted.
Operational Transparency in Space
The standards in the 129-page draft, called ISO/CD3 9490, include procedures for collecting, storing and exchanging data pertinent to space safety. The draft offers guidelines on operational transparency in space as required in the Outer Space Treaty and other related United Nations documents on ensuring safety and sustainability in space.
The guidance includes direction on sharing and exchange of planned spacecraft launches, as well as maneuvers and potential orbital conjunctions. In addition, the ISO draft provides maneuver recommendations and prioritization of spacecraft at risk of collision. A section in the draft also tackles the responsibilities of participants under the STC system.
Commenting on the draft is via an OSC-provided template that may be sent through e-mail, with May 15 as the submission deadline.
In a related move, OSC published last June the Space Industry Technical Standards Compendium that addresses space traffic coordination and space situational awareness. The office said it will continuously update the compendium and work to convert the resource into an online database.
