Trump’s first administration helped establish the Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS). His second administration wants to dismantle it.
When President Trump issued a memorandum on national space traffic management policy in June 2018, there were fewer than 5,000 satellites orbiting the planet. Today, there are nearly 12,000 — but the fledgling traffic management program he jumpstarted is now facing demise, according to the administration’s proposed 2026 budget for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The proposal “sets [the U.S.] back by decades” says Moriba Jah, an aerospace engineer (University of Texas at Austin) who has thrice testified to Congress on space traffic management. “It’s stupid.”