The “we” approach to space traffic management

Abstract

Today, substantive and ever increasing on-orbit collision risk exists. In that context, this paper summarizes lessons learned and key considerations gleaned from operating and/or observing the operation of past and present Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and Space Traffic Management (STM) concepts, frameworks and implementations. A foundational realization from these lessons learned is that rather than continuing to ask our community’s long-standing question, “Is my SSA data better than yours,” the ideal STM system must acknowledge that the correct response is “neither” and embody the notion that only “We” together can assemble the best SSA data set by fusing best-available, all-source data.