Space Traffic Management (STM) Architecture

As ever larger numbers of spacecraft seek to make use of Earth's limited orbital volume in increasingly dense orbital regimes, greater coordination becomes necessary to ensure these spacecraft are able to operate safely while avoiding physical collisions, radio-frequency interference, and other hazards. While efforts to date have focused on improving Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and enabling operator to operator coordination, there is growing recognition that a broader system for Space Traffic Management (STM) is necessary. The STM architecture forms the framework for an STM ecosystem, which enables the addition of third parties that can identify and fill niches by providing new, useful services. By making the STM functions available as services, the architecture reduces the amount of expertise that must be available internally within a particular organization, thereby reducing the barriers to operating in space and providing participants with the information necessary to behave responsibly. Operational support for collision avoidance, separation, etc., is managed through a decentralized architecture, rather than via a single centralized government-administered system. The STM system is based on the use of standardized Application Programming Interfaces (API) to allow easier interconnection and conceptual definition of roles to more easily allow suppliers with different capabilities to add value to the ecosystem. The architecture handles basic functions including registration, discovery, authentication of participants, and auditable tracking of data provenance and integrity. The technology is able to integrate data from multiple sources. Space is becoming increasingly congested due to rising numbers of on-orbit satellites and debris objects. Despite growing awareness of the orbital debris problem, recent developments such as launch ride sharing, growth in availability of small launch vehicles, and particularly large scale satellite constellation deployments, are dramatically increasing on-orbit congestion. Uncontrolled growth will severely affect future space operations. NASA Ames has developed a novel technology known as Space Traffic Management (STM) which provides a robust framework for on-orbit coordination of activities to enhance the safety, stability, and sustainability of operations in the space environment. The STM system is critical for ensuring that the expanding orbital population operates safely and efficiently, avoiding collisions and radio-frequency interference while still facilitating widespread space operations in an increasingly congested space environment. Additionally, it meets the objectives associated with the transition of civil STM from the Department of Defense to a civilian entity.