The software coding for this project was done by Staff Sgt. Now we’re covering all objects in our catalog.” “Before we were only doing that with active payloads. “For every object we track we are calculating that object’s interaction with anything else, based on the criteria set by NASA CARA and Space Command,” he said. “We curtailed processes to improve the meaningfulness of conjunction data messages compared to the legacy way of doing business,” said Sorice. Space Command and NASA’s Conjunction Assessment Risk Analysis organization.
The new processes for data reporting were developed jointly by U.S. “This will improve spaceflight safety by reducing the number of unnecessary conjunction reports,” he said. Under the new process, there will be fewer but higher quality reports. Sorice said the 18 SPCS also is reducing the daily number of “spam” messages issued to satellite operators and foreign governments that included reports of nearly zero-probability of on-orbit conjunctions. “It doesn’t mean we didn’t see those objects before but we didn’t have the capacity or processes to actually screen potential conjunctions especially between debris objects.” The data analysis process focused on trying to predict potential collisions between active satellites or between satellites and pieces of debris. Up until now, the 18th SPCS had limited conjunction screening and reporting capacity, Sorice said.
All users of the space catalog published on will have access to the data. Space Command are active satellites, Sorice said. Only about 3,200 of the 25,000 objects tracked by U.S.
Most of the objects now orbiting the Earth are pieces of debris.