SpaceX Gets Military's Precise Space-Tracking Data — SkimNews
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- Space Force granted SpaceX enhanced access to the US Space Command's High Accuracy Catalog, the first time a commercial company received it; a spokesperson said the agency is engaging with several companies to exchange commercial data sources for access to sections of the controlled, unclassified catalog.
- SpaceX signed a contract with the Space Force to receive Vector Covariance Messages built from military sensors, telescopes and radars — tracking objects down to about 10cm — in exchange for government access to Starlink's Stargaze cameras and sensors; a SpaceX employee at an industry conference called the radar data "an extremely valuable tool to supplement Stargaze," which sees only objects down to about half a meter.
- Traccs manages thousands of satellites, debris and spacecraft and helps prevent up to 50,000 near-collisions daily — the collision-avoidance work the military had planned to hand to the program went instead to SpaceX, after Doge fired many of Traccs's staff in 2025, and commercial space company employees say the industry broadly backs Traccs for leveling the playing field.
- Congress re-inserted funding for the $65m program after the administration tried to largely defund it in fiscal year 2026, and the House re-inserted the money again after the administration proposed cutting it to nearly zero for fiscal year 2027.
- Cole Donovan, a former Traccs employee with the Stand Up for Science non-profit, said the unprecedented access appears to be another step toward Musk asserting monopoly control in a commercial US space market expected to grow to nearly $2tn in value over the next decade, making SpaceX "the de facto source for space traffic coordination within the US," like giving a trucking company control of all the traffic lights.
- Starlink operates about 11,000 satellites in orbit and could have as many as 20,000 in coming years; a former Noaa official said it has largely been "remarkably responsive to space safety concerns" and does not fault Starlink for stepping into a gap the government failed to address, pointing instead to the government's failure to build a coherent space governance framework.
- Craig Holman, Public Citizen's Capitol Hill lobbyist, said the access is another example of the Trump administration rewarding a donor with federal business opportunities: "Elon Musk has bought his way into the favor of President Trump and with it, unlimited riches and lucrative government contracts in the space industry."
Why it matters: The deal gives SpaceX an edge over rivals offering similar collision-avoidance services, while the $65m Traccs program — rescued from near-zero budgets twice by Congress — still handles up to 50,000 near-collisions a day. In return, the government gains Stargaze sensor access, deepening its reliance on a company accused of consolidating control.
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