The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) intends to take on the task of satellite tracking to provide collision warnings. The role is currently undertaken by Space Command, according to Breaking Defense, but Space Policy Directive-3 of 2018 decided a civil agency should be responsible for providing such data to commercial and international organisations.

Space.com explains that the NOAA’s Open-Architecture Data Repository (OADR) is a cloud database that tracks satellites and warns of collision risks, much like a weather report. The website explains: “The OADR collects data on space conditions from a number of different scans from ground sensors that together cover much of the globe. The OADR is linked both to US-government-affiliated ground stations and to a network of commercial stations (especially in the Southern Hemisphere). The data also includes space weather observations and other satellites’ live telemetry and manoeuvring plans.”

The result is a picture of evolving risk probabilities, and will hopefully give operators days to avoid them when the system is fully operational in 2025.

For a video of the media briefing on the OADR prototype, click here