S3658-118

Passed Senate

To promote space situational awareness and space traffic coordination and to modify the functions and leadership of the Office of Space Commerce, and for other purposes.

118th Congress Introduced Jan 25, 2024

Legislative Progress

Passed Senate
Introduced Committee Passed
Jan 25, 2024

Mr. Cornyn (for himself, Mr. Peters, Ms. Sinema, Mrs. Blackburn, …

Jan 25, 2024

Mr. Cornyn (for himself, Mr. Peters, Ms. Sinema, Mrs. Blackburn, …

Jan 25, 2024

Mr. Cornyn (for himself, Mr. Peters, Ms. Sinema, Mrs. Blackburn, …

Jan 25, 2024

Mr. Cornyn (for himself, Mr. Peters, Ms. Sinema, Mrs. Blackburn, …

Jan 25, 2024

Mr. Cornyn (for himself, Mr. Peters, Ms. Sinema, Mrs. Blackburn, …

Jan 25, 2024

Mr. Cornyn (for himself, Mr. Peters, Ms. Sinema, Mrs. Blackburn, …

Jan 25, 2024

Mr. Cornyn (for himself, Mr. Peters, Ms. Sinema, Mrs. Blackburn, …

Jan 25, 2024

Mr. Cornyn (for himself, Mr. Peters, Ms. Sinema, Mrs. Blackburn, …

Jan 25, 2024

Mr. Cornyn (for himself, Mr. Peters, Ms. Sinema, Mrs. Blackburn, …

Jan 25, 2024

Mr. Cornyn (for himself, Mr. Peters, Ms. Sinema, Mrs. Blackburn, …

Summary

What This Bill Does

This bill assigns the Department of Commerce responsibility for space situational awareness and traffic coordination. It requires Commerce to provide free public access to space object tracking data and basic collision avoidance services while protecting the private sector market.

Who Benefits and How

Satellite operators receive free basic space situational awareness services. Public gains access to unclassified space object database. Commercial space industry is protected from government competition.

Who Bears the Burden and How

Commerce Department must acquire data and provide services. Government and its contractors receive immunity from suit for SSA services.

Key Provisions

  • Creates Assistant Secretary for Space Commerce
  • Provides free public database of space objects
  • Provides basic SSA services to satellite operators at no charge
  • Establishes liability immunity for government SSA providers
  • Must not compete with private sector SSA products
Model: claude-opus-4
Generated: Jan 9, 2026 13:57

Evidence Chain:

This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.

Primary Purpose

Establishes Commerce Department role in space situational awareness and traffic coordination, providing free public access to space object tracking data and basic collision avoidance services.

Policy Domains

Space Commerce National Security

Legislative Strategy

"Establish civil space traffic management at Commerce while protecting commercial market"

Bill Structure & Actor Mappings

Who is "The Secretary" in each section?

Domains
Space Commerce
Actor Mappings
"the_secretary"
→ Secretary of Commerce
"the_assistant_secretary"
→ Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Space Commerce

We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.

Learn more about our methodology