TraCSS User Fees: Should Satellite Operators Pay for Collision Avoidance Data?

Right now, if your satellite is on a potential collision course with another object in orbit, the U.S. government will warn you — for free. That may be about to change.

The Office of Space Commerce (OSC) is actively deliberating whether to introduce user fees for TraCSS, the Traffic Coordination System for Space — the government's next-generation collision avoidance service that currently screens over 8,000 spacecraft, roughly 80% of all active objects in orbit. A December 2025 Executive Order removed the policy prohibition on charging fees. A draft fee schedule was expected in March 2026. And in January, SpaceX launched a free competitor called Stargaze that collects 30 million observations per day.

The question of who pays for space safety — and who controls the data — is now one of the most consequential policy debates in the commercial space industry. Companies tracking space environment data and satellite operations need to understand what is happening and what it means for their operations.

What TraCSS Actually Does

TraCSS is a modern, cloud-based system developed by NOAA's Office of Space Commerce to replace the Department of Defense's legacy role as the provider of civilian space situational awareness (SSA). The handoff was mandated by Space Policy Directive 3 (SPD-3), signed in June 2018, which directed the Department of Commerce to take over civilian space traffic coordination so the military could focus on national security priorities.

The system ingests tracking data from the DoD's Space Surveillance Network, commercial SSA providers, and satellite operators' own ephemeris data. It performs "all-versus-all" conjunction screening of the entire catalog six times per day and also provides on-demand screening — operators can submit ephemeris data and receive conjunction analysis results within 2 to 5 minutes. Large constellation operators can submit thousands of ephemerides at once via bulk submissions.

When a potential collision is identified, TraCSS generates Conjunction Data Messages (CDMs) — standardized warnings that tell operators how close two objects will come, when, and with what probability. The DoD's 18th Space Defense Squadron currently tracks over 45,000 man-made objects, and TraCSS builds on that data to deliver actionable collision avoidance information to civilian and commercial operators.

As of February 2026, 17 organizations are pilot users of TraCSS, including SpaceX, Iridium, OneWeb, Maxar, Planet Labs, Intelsat, and Amazon Kuiper. The system transitioned from beta (10 initial users starting September 2024) to pilot status in August 2025.

What Changed: The Executive Order

On December 18, 2025, the "Ensuring American Space Superiority" executive order deleted the key passage from SPD-3 that committed the government to providing basic SSA and space traffic management services "free of direct user fees." The new language replaces this with services available for "commercial and other relevant use" — language that neither mandates nor prohibits fees.

This does not immediately impose fees or create billing authority. What it does is remove a policy constraint that previously made fee-based models off-limits. It opens the door for "premium" services — hyper-accurate maneuver planning, high-fidelity ephemeris data, advanced screening — to be offered on a cost-recovery or commercial subscription basis. The expected model is a tiered approach: basic safety data remains accessible, while enhanced services carry a price tag.

The Budget Battle Behind the Scenes

The fee debate did not emerge in a vacuum. It followed a bruising fight over whether TraCSS should exist at all.

In June 2025, the administration's FY2026 budget proposed cutting the Office of Space Commerce from $65 million to just $10 million — an 85% cut that would have effectively terminated TraCSS. The rationale: the private sector has demonstrated it can provide SSA services and SPD-3's intent had been met.

The industry mobilized. Seven trade groups representing roughly 450 space companies — including the Satellite Industry Association, the Aerospace Industries Association, and the Commercial SSA Coalition — urged Congress to reverse the cut. The Space Force, which would inherit an unfunded mandate to resume civilian traffic management without TraCSS, also opposed the cuts. A Space Operations Command official noted TraCSS "allows our squadrons to focus more fully on our core mission."

Congress rejected the proposed cuts decisively. The Senate Appropriations Committee allocated $60 million, calling space traffic management an "inherently governmental" function. The House allocated $50 million. The final FY2026 appropriation landed at approximately $55 million — dramatically above the administration's $10 million request.

But the fight was not over. In September 2025, the Commerce Department requested a 40% rescission of OSC's FY2025 budget, submitted so close to the fiscal year deadline that Congress could not act within the required 45-day window. The cuts proceeded. Combined with DOGE-related staffing reductions that eliminated roughly 30% of the office's federal employees, TraCSS entered 2026 operational but politically bruised.

The irony is not lost on observers: TraCSS originated from the first Trump administration's SPD-3 in 2018, making the second Trump administration's defunding proposal politically awkward.

The Case for Fees

Proponents of user fees argue that the current model — taxpayer-funded services benefiting commercial satellite operators — is unsustainable and misaligned with how every other transportation sector operates.

Melissa Quinn of Slingshot Aerospace frames it directly: "In any other transport sector — aviation, maritime, or rail — the operator pays for the infrastructure and safety services they utilize."

The cost would be modest. Audrey Schaffer, SVP of Global Policy at Slingshot Aerospace, estimates that charging $1,000 per satellite per year would fund approximately 25% of TraCSS's $55 million annual budget — "far less than what they already pay in annual regulatory fees for spectrum allocation." At that rate, a 100-satellite operator would pay $100,000 per year. SpaceX, with roughly 9,600 Starlink satellites, would pay approximately $9.6 million.

Proponents also argue that fee-paying customers would demand higher-quality data, creating a positive feedback loop that drives investment in better tracking systems. And dedicated commercial funding would insulate TraCSS from the kind of budget volatility that nearly killed it in 2025.

The Case Against Fees

Opponents argue that collision avoidance is a public good — the benefits of preventing a debris-generating collision accrue to the entire orbital environment, not just the operators who receive a warning.

Richard DalBello, former Director of the Office of Space Commerce, warns that charging for basic SSA services "risks undermining shared safety norms while creating uncertainty for operators, investors, and international partners." He adds a geopolitical dimension: "TraCSS is more than a technical service — it is a diplomatic lever. The U.S. has a strategic interest in shaping the rules of the road."

Small satellite operators face the most acute concern. Most lack the resources to independently perform comprehensive conjunction assessments. Fees could further disadvantage them relative to mega-constellation operators who can absorb the cost — or who, in SpaceX's case, can build their own tracking system.

There is also a fragmentation risk. Without a government-provided backbone, operators may subscribe to different commercial SSA services that use different data sources, different algorithms, and different risk thresholds. When two operators get conflicting conjunction assessments from different providers, who arbitrates? DalBello argues that "civil space traffic coordination needs a neutral, standards-based backbone and a publicly stewarded, open-architecture layer to build interoperability and trust."

The Stargaze Wildcard

On January 30, 2026, SpaceX announced Stargaze — a space tracking platform that uses star tracker cameras on its approximately 9,600 Starlink satellites to detect orbiting objects. It collects nearly 30 million observations per day and calculates orbits in near real-time. SpaceX offers screening results free of charge to any operator that shares its own ephemeris data. Over a dozen companies are already in beta testing.

Stargaze is a game-changer — and a complication. Its sheer observational scale dwarfs anything a government or commercial provider currently operates in LEO. But it only works in low Earth orbit, where Starlink satellites are concentrated. It also raises a fundamental conflict-of-interest question: the world's largest satellite operator would also be running the safety system.

Dr. Moriba Jah, a leading space sustainability researcher, has raised concerns that Stargaze's "sheer scale" could make it the de facto SSA service, with "any entity challenging its findings facing a significant burden of proof." Gabriel Swiney, an OSC official, has expressed concerns about Stargaze's impact on smaller commercial SSA companies whose business models depend on paid data.

DalBello counters that "TraCSS still matters. A publicly stewarded, open-architecture layer is what builds interoperability, trust, and durability across the whole ecosystem."

The Commercial SSA Landscape

The commercial space situational awareness market is projected to grow from $1.73 billion in 2025 to $2.79 billion by 2030. Key players include:

• LeoLabs — Operates 11 phased-array radar installations across 7 global sites, detecting debris as small as 2cm in LEO. Won a $60 million STRATFI radar contract for Indo-Pacific coverage.
• Slingshot Aerospace — Won the $13.3 million TraCSS Presentation Layer contract (the user interface) and provides SSA data services for LEO.
• COMSPOC — Orbit determination services for GEO and LEO tracking.
• ExoAnalytic Solutions — Optical telescope network focused on GEO tracking.
• Kayhan Space — Collision avoidance platform and data quality monitoring.
• Neuraspace — European commercial space traffic management provider.

The TraCSS Consolidated Pathfinder program, which tested commercial data integration with COMSPOC, LeoLabs, Slingshot, ExoAnalytic, Kayhan, and SpaceNav, cost a total of $15.5 million. Companies tracking the commercial SSA competitive landscape can monitor developments on our debris tracking dashboard.

What Happens Next

The draft fee schedule and Service Level Agreement were expected for public comment in March 2026. While the exact timeline has slipped, the deliberation is active. The likely outcome is a tiered model:

• Basic tier (free or nominal cost): Core conjunction warnings to maintain global orbital safety.
• Premium tier (paid): Enhanced screening, high-fidelity ephemeris data, advanced maneuver planning, and priority support.

Satellite operators should begin auditing their internal SSA requirements and budgeting for potential service fees. Companies that currently rely exclusively on free government data should evaluate commercial alternatives and consider how a mixed ecosystem — government backbone plus commercial enhancements — might affect their operations.

The broader question remains unresolved: Is space traffic management more like air traffic control (a government service funded by taxes and user fees) or maritime navigation (a commercial ecosystem with government oversight)? The answer will shape the orbital environment for decades.

The Bottom Line

The TraCSS fee debate is not really about $1,000 per satellite. It is about whether the United States treats collision avoidance as critical public infrastructure or as a commercial service. With 12,000 active satellites in orbit, 130 million debris fragments larger than 1mm, and mega-constellations adding thousands more objects every year, the stakes of getting this wrong are measured in Kessler syndrome scenarios — cascading debris that renders entire orbital regimes unusable.

Whatever the fee structure looks like, operators need to plan for a world where free, comprehensive government SSA data is no longer guaranteed. The companies that prepare now — by diversifying their data sources, building internal conjunction assessment capabilities, and engaging in the public comment process — will be best positioned regardless of the outcome.