Appropriators restore funding for Commerce’s TraCSS spacewatch effort

WASHINGTON — The fiscal 2026 budget bills approved by appropriators on both sides of Capitol Hill would restore fiscal 2026 funding eliminated by the Trump administration for the Commerce Department’s nascent space safety program — an effort designed to free the Defense Department to focus its space monitoring capabilities on potential on-orbit threats from adversaries.

The White House FY26 federal spending proposal would have wiped out almost all funding for the Office of Space Commerce (OSC), which is the organization within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) responsible for creating the Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS) system. OSC received about $65 million in FY25; the FY26 administration budget slated only $10 million.

Ironically, TraCSS was initiated by OSC in response to the first Trump administration’s 2018 Space Policy Directive-3. After years of effort, an initial version of TraCSS was rolled out in September 2024 — with full cooperation by DoD, the Space Force and US Space Command — that provided collision warnings to a set of beta users.

The Trump administration about-face on the effort widely alarmed space industry officials, despite some qualms among commercial SSA providers about the program’s planned approach and its slow implementation.

The Senate Appropriations Committee’s version of the FY26 Commerce-Justice-Science spending bill, which funds NOAA as well as NASA and was published last week, slated $60 million for OSC with a specific focus on “expanding the operational capabilities of TraCSS.”

In report language accompanying the bill, lawmakers stressed that in their opinion providing space situational awareness (SSA) and space traffic management (STM) data and services are “inherently governmental” missions — directly disagreeing with the Trump administration’s rationale for killing TraCSS because because “private industry has proven that they have the capability and the business model to provide civil operators with SSA and STM services using the releasable portion of the DOD catalog.”

Likewise, appropriators on the House side [PDF] slated $50 million for OSC, and noted “the urgent need to enhance commercial and international space traffic coordination and improve the nation’s overall space situational awareness (SSA) posture.”

The House lawmakers further cautioned NOAA “to avoid duplicative investments in new proprietary systems and instead prioritize” acquiring technologies already “operationalized” by the Department of Defense and the Space Force.

“The Committee directs NOAA to use available funds to accelerate the adoption of such architectures and data frameworks, particularly those that provide scalable, federated access to orbital data from multiple sources, to fulfill its responsibilities in a timely and cost-effective manner and ensure interoperability with Space Force,” the bill added.

Industry officials lauded the congressional moves — although the ultimate fate of TraCSS remains unclear as lawmakers do battle over the budget before eventually sending it to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature.

TraCSS “is essential for maintaining space traffic safety for civil operators and commercial space companies,” a spokesperson for the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) told Breaking Defense. “This has been a priority that AIA has championed, and we’re grateful to see Congress’ continued support. As Congress moves through the appropriations process, we hope to see continued bipartisan and bicameral support for this program.”

David Cavossa, president of the Commercial Space Foundation, stressed that funding for commercial space traffic coordination at the Commerce Department “means the U.S. can continue to lead in developing enhanced space situational awareness capabilities.

“It’s not every day you see nearly the entire space industry united behind a policy. We are pleased to see Congress endorse that policy by recommending continued investments in space that are critical for safe operations,” he added.

Richard DalBello, who ran OSC under the Biden administration, pointed out that FY26 funding will allow TraCSS to reach fruition.

“The inclusion of funding for TraCSS in both House and Senate bills is a strong signal that policymakers recognize the importance of program continuity. With a full production release targeted for 2026, this support ensures the program has the stability and momentum needed to deliver a modern, civilian-led space traffic coordination capability at a critical moment for the space community,” he told Breaking Defense.