The Commerce Department is finalizing a deal that would give it access to the Air Force\u2019s space situational awareness data, the head of the department\u2019s Office of Space Commerce said June 26. Such a move would be a key step forward in Commerce\u2019s effort to develop a repository of sensor data for commercial companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Director of the Office of Space Commerce Kevin O\u2019Connell said the department was close to signing a final agreement with the Air Force Research Lab to gain access to the Unified Data Library \u2014 an effort to collect and integrate data from a number of Department of Defense and commercial SSA sensors. According to O\u2019Connell, that library will serve as the base of the Commerce Department\u2019s own cloud-based collection of SSA data called the open architecture data repository. That database will be provided to commercial companies to help them avoid collisions in space and limit the creation of even more space debris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat we are trying to do at Commerce, within our own efforts on SSA and also (space traffic management), is really to increase the quality and accuracy and the proper speed (SSA data) is sent to owner\/operators so that they have a self interest in protecting themselves, getting out of the way…or collaborating with others to have to do the same thing,\u201d said O\u2019Connell. \u201cThat\u2019s the central idea here–to create the right kinds of data for people to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In late spring, the Commerce Department issued a request for information asking what the commercial sector could bring to bear on the SSA and space traffic management problems, especially in relation to the development of that open architecture data repository. O\u2019Connell said the department received 42 submissions by the May 23 deadline, and most of those responses indicated that enhanced standardized data sharing is essential to SSA as well as space debris removal and mitigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Incorporating data from allied countries and the commercial companies located within them is a goal for the department as it develops the open architecture data repository.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOne of the things we\u2019ve explicitly considered from the outset…is how we\u2019re going to bring in allied data, and allied commercial data specifically, into the open architecture data repository,\u201d said O\u2019Connell. \u201cThat\u2019s not an afterthought. That\u2019s something that we\u2019re thinking about explicitly right at the front end.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The department is still working to summarize responses top the request for information, he added, and will likely host an industry day to discuss once that\u2019s done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kevin O’Connell, director of the Commerce Department’s Office of Space Commerce, said leaders are close to obtaining an agreement to use the Air Force’s space situational awareness data as a base for a public repository for commercial companies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":35781,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":37,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[7,106,29,32,37],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3143],"class_list":["post-17978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-battlefield-tech","category-daily-brief","category-home","category-newsletters","category-space"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"I5IVOWFPN5AYPC73QTKEMFVP3I","arc_canonical_url":"\/battlefield-tech\/space\/2019\/06\/26\/the-commerce-department-is-close-to-an-agreement-for-space-data\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n