Space, satellite, defense companies urge lawmakers to fund NOAA space commerce office

Seven industry organizations representing 450 space, satellite, and defense companies are asking congressional appropriators to sufficiently fund an office within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that plays a key role in coordinating satellite traffic.

In letters shared with FedScoop, the associations called on leaders of the House and Senate appropriations subcommittees that oversee NOAA’s budget to keep the Office of Space Commerce at its current level of $65 million in fiscal year 2026. They also asked lawmakers to ensure OSC continues to get its funding for the current fiscal year. 

“Without funding for space traffic coordination, U.S. commercial and government satellite operators would face greater risks — putting critical missions in harm’s way, raising the cost of doing business, and potentially driving U.S. industry to relocate overseas,” the associations wrote. 

The letters follow a recent fiscal year 2026 budget justification document from NOAA that proposed reducing the space commerce office’s funding from $65 million to $10 million, cutting the number of employees, and eliminating its Traffic Coordination System for Space program, known as TraCSS. 

That tool is being developed by the OSC as the result of a directive from President Donald Trump during his first administration and is intended to provide space situational awareness data to support safe spaceflight operations, per NOAA’s website. In June, it announced awards to eight companies for part of that program, and in May, it had announced an expanded agreement with SpaceX.

While the letter does not mention the TraCSS program by name, the organizations highlighted OSC’s importance for space traffic safety as well as continuity in space missions dealing with national security.

“One of OSC’s most important functions is to provide space traffic coordination support to U.S. satellite operators, similar to the Federal Aviation Administration’s role in air traffic control for the U.S. airline industry,” the organizations wrote. “Helping the U.S. space industry operate safely in an increasingly congested space domain ensures space-based services like broadband internet and weather forecasting are available to the American people.”

The organizations also said there is a risk that not funding OSC sufficiently would mean the space traffic coordination function reverts “to the Department of Defense despite longstanding U.S. policy favoring civil oversight.” 

“Keeping space traffic coordination within the Department of Commerce preserves military resources for core defense missions and prevents the conflation of space safety with military control — critical to U.S. leadership in setting international standards and norms for space activities,” the organizations wrote.

The coalition of industry groups that signed the letters is the Aerospace Industries Association, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Commercial Space Federation, Commercial SSA Coalition, National Security Space Association, Satellite Industry Association, and Space Data Association.