Before this is deleted for being “unrelated to space”, from the article:
> HOUSTON — Layoffs of staff at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have included its Office of Space Commerce, potentially affecting work on space traffic coordination and commercial remote sensing licensing.
> …
> The layoffs included staff working on the Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS), the civil space traffic coordination system that the office is creating to implement Space Policy Directive 3 by the first Trump administration in 2018. TraCSS is intended to take over work currently done by the Defense Department to maintain a catalog of objects in orbit and provide warnings to satellite operators of potential close approaches of their satellites with other objects.
> Also affected are staff in the office’s Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs (CRSRA) Division, which handles licensing of commercial imaging spacecraft, as well as staff in the office who manage other operations.
> The number of people laid off could be as much as a quarter of the staff of the Office of Space Commerce, which had about 60 civil servants and contractors as of late 2024. NOAA has not issued a statement about the layoffs and the office did not respond to questions about them late Feb. 27.
> There are concerns that cuts in staffing at TraCSS could keep it from meeting its goal of entering full operations by the end of the current fiscal year. The service started beta testing last fall and planned a phased approach to implement additional capabilities through September. Similarly, reductions in its commercial remote sensing division could roll back progress by the office in reducing review times for license applications.
> …
> The Office of Space Commerce also announced Feb. 28 it was canceling a meeting of its advisory committee, the Advisory Committee on Excellence in Space (ACES), that was scheduled for March 5. The announcement provided no details on the reason for the cancellation. The meeting was scheduled to discuss work on commercial remote sensing licensing and proposals for the office to handle “mission authorization” for commercial space activities not regulated by other agencies.
I excerpted all the parts specifically about space. I didn’t even include the NOAA cuts, which also include a lot of space work, but which apparently “aren’t related to space” and thus get deleted.
RhesusFactor on
Shit. Not TRACSS. Please.
It’s the best attempt we have had at actual space traffic management.
smiles__ on
Trump and Elon and Republicans in general are doing their best to make this the dumbest timeline
3 Comments
Before this is deleted for being “unrelated to space”, from the article:
> HOUSTON — Layoffs of staff at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have included its Office of Space Commerce, potentially affecting work on space traffic coordination and commercial remote sensing licensing.
> …
> The layoffs included staff working on the Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS), the civil space traffic coordination system that the office is creating to implement Space Policy Directive 3 by the first Trump administration in 2018. TraCSS is intended to take over work currently done by the Defense Department to maintain a catalog of objects in orbit and provide warnings to satellite operators of potential close approaches of their satellites with other objects.
> Also affected are staff in the office’s Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs (CRSRA) Division, which handles licensing of commercial imaging spacecraft, as well as staff in the office who manage other operations.
> The number of people laid off could be as much as a quarter of the staff of the Office of Space Commerce, which had about 60 civil servants and contractors as of late 2024. NOAA has not issued a statement about the layoffs and the office did not respond to questions about them late Feb. 27.
> There are concerns that cuts in staffing at TraCSS could keep it from meeting its goal of entering full operations by the end of the current fiscal year. The service started beta testing last fall and planned a phased approach to implement additional capabilities through September. Similarly, reductions in its commercial remote sensing division could roll back progress by the office in reducing review times for license applications.
> …
> The Office of Space Commerce also announced Feb. 28 it was canceling a meeting of its advisory committee, the Advisory Committee on Excellence in Space (ACES), that was scheduled for March 5. The announcement provided no details on the reason for the cancellation. The meeting was scheduled to discuss work on commercial remote sensing licensing and proposals for the office to handle “mission authorization” for commercial space activities not regulated by other agencies.
I excerpted all the parts specifically about space. I didn’t even include the NOAA cuts, which also include a lot of space work, but which apparently “aren’t related to space” and thus get deleted.
Shit. Not TRACSS. Please.
It’s the best attempt we have had at actual space traffic management.
Trump and Elon and Republicans in general are doing their best to make this the dumbest timeline