II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3658 

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. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 25, 2024 

Mr. CORNYN (for himself, Mr. PETERS, Ms. SINEMA, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. 

SCHMITT, Mr. KELLY, and Mr. WICKER) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 

Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Situational Awareness 

5 of Flying Elements in Orbit Act’’ or the ‘‘SAFE Orbit 

6 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SPACE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS AND SPACE TRAF2 FIC COORDINATION. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Commerce shall 

4 facilitate safe operations in space and encourage the devel5 opment of commercial space capabilities by acquiring and 

6 disseminating unclassified data, analytics, information, 

7 and services on space activities. 

8 (b) IMMUNITY.—The United States, any agencies and 

9 instrumentalities thereof, and any individuals, firms, cor10 porations, and other persons acting for the United States, 

11 including nongovernmental entities, shall be immune from 

12 any suit in any court for any cause of action arising from 

13 the provision or receipt of space situational awareness 

14 services or information, whether or not provided in accord15 ance with this section, or any related action or omission. 

16 (c) ACQUISITION OF DATA.—The Assistant Secretary 

17 of Commerce for Space Commerce (established under sec18 tion 50702(b) of title 51, United States Code, as amended 

19 by section 3) is authorized to acquire— 

20 (1) data, analytics, information, and services, 

21 including with respect to— 

22 (A) location tracking data; 

23 (B) positional and orbit determination in24 formation; and 

25 (C) conjunction data messages; and 


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1 (2) such other data, analytics, information, and 

2 services as the Secretary of Commerce determines 

3 necessary to avoid collisions of space objects. 

4 (d) DATABASE ON SATELLITE LOCATION AND BE5 HAVIOR.—The Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Space 

6 Commerce shall provide access for the public, at no 

7 charge, a fully updated, unclassified database of informa8 tion concerning space objects and behavior that includes— 

9 (1) the data and information acquired under 

10 subsection (c), except to the extent that such data 

11 or information is classified or a trade secret (as de12 fined in section 1839 of title 18, United States 

13 Code); and 

14 (2) the provision of basic space situational 

15 awareness services and space traffic coordination 

16 based on the data referred to in paragraph (1), in17 cluding basic analytics, tracking calculations, and 

18 conjunction data messages. 

19 (e) BASIC SPACE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS SERV20 ICES.—The Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Space 

21 Commerce— 

22 (1) shall provide to satellite operators, at no 

23 charge, basic space situational awareness services, 

24 including the data, analytics, information, and serv25 ices described in subsection (c); 


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1 (2) in carrying out paragraph (1), may not 

2 compete with private sector space situational aware3 ness products, to the maximum extent practicable; 

4 and 

5 (3) not less frequently than every 3 years, shall 

6 review the basic space situational awareness services 

7 described in paragraph (1) to ensure that such serv8 ices provided by the Federal Government do not 

9 compete with space situational awareness services of10 fered by the private sector. 

11 (f) REQUIREMENTS FOR DATA ACQUISITION AND

12 DISSEMINATION.—In acquiring data, analytics, informa13 tion, and services under subsection (c) and disseminating 

14 data, analytics, information, and services under sub15 sections (d) and (e), the Assistant Secretary of Commerce 

16 for Space Commerce shall— 

17 (1) leverage commercial capabilities to the max18 imum extent practicable; 

19 (2) prioritize the acquisition of data, analytics, 

20 information, and services from commercial industry 

21 located in or licensed in the United States to supple22 ment data collected by United States Government 

23 agencies, including the Department of Defense and 

24 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration; 


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1 (3) appropriately protect proprietary data, in2 formation, and systems of firms located in the 

3 United States, including by using appropriate infra4 structure and cybersecurity measures, including 

5 measures set forth in the most recent version of the 

6 Cybersecurity Framework, or successor document, 

7 maintained by the National Institute of Standards 

8 and Technology; 

9 (4) facilitate the development of standardization 

10 and consistency in data reporting, in collaboration 

11 with satellite owners and operators, commercial 

12 space situational awareness data and service pro13 viders, the academic community, nonprofit organiza14 tions, and the Director of the National Institute of 

15 Standards and Technology; and 

16 (5) encourage foreign governments to partici17 pate in unclassified data sharing arrangements for 

18 space situational awareness and space traffic coordi19 nation. 

20 (g) OTHER TRANSACTION AUTHORITY.—In carrying 

21 out the activities required by this section, the Secretary 

22 of Commerce shall enter into such contracts, leases, coop23 erative agreements, or other transactions as may be nec24 essary. 


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1 (h) SPACE OBJECT DEFINED.—In this section, the 

2 term ‘‘space object’’ means any object launched into space, 

3 or created in space, robotically or by humans, including 

4 an object’s component parts. 

5 SEC. 3. OFFICE OF SPACE COMMERCE. 

6 (a) LOCATION OF OFFICE.—Subsection (a) of section 

7 50702 of title 51, United States Code, is amended by in8 serting before the end period the following: ‘‘, which, not 

9 later than 5 years after the date of the enactment of the 

10 SAFE Orbit Act, shall organizationally reside within the 

11 Office of the Secretary of Commerce’’. 

12 (b) ADDITIONAL FUNCTIONS OF OFFICE.—Sub13 section (c) of such section is amended— 

14 (1) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘; and’’ and 

15 inserting a semicolon; 

16 (2) in paragraph (5), by striking the period at 

17 the end and inserting a semicolon; and 

18 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

19 ‘‘(6) to perform space situational awareness and 

20 space traffic management duties pursuant to the 

21 SAFE Orbit Act.’’. 

22 (c) ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF COMMERCE FOR

23 SPACE COMMERCE.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (b) of such sec25 tion is amended to read as follows: 


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1 ‘‘(b) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The Office shall be 

2 headed by the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Space 

3 Commerce, who shall— 

4 ‘‘(1) be appointed by the President, by and with 

5 the advice and consent of the Senate; 

6 ‘‘(2) report directly to the Secretary of Com7 merce; and 

8 ‘‘(3) have a rate of pay that is equal to the rate 

9 payable for level IV of the Executive Schedule under 

10 section 5315 of title 5.’’. 

11 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

12 (A) Section 50702(d) of title 51, United 

13 States Code, is amended— 

14 (i) in the subsection heading, by strik15 ing ‘‘DIRECTOR’’ and inserting ‘‘ASSIST16 ANT SECRETARY’’; and 

17 (ii) in the matter preceding paragraph 

18 (1), by striking ‘‘Director’’ and inserting 

19 ‘‘Assistant Secretary’’. 

20 (B) Section 5315 of title 5, United States 

21 Code, is amended by striking ‘‘Assistant Secre22 taries of Commerce (11)’’ and inserting ‘‘As23 sistant Secretaries of Commerce (12)’’. 

24 (3) REFERENCES.—On and after the date of 

25 the enactment of this Act, any reference in any law 


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1 or regulation to the Director of the Office of Space 

2 Commerce shall be deemed to be a reference to the 

3 Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Space Com4 merce. 

5 (d) TRANSITION REPORT.—Not later than 1 year 

6 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

7 of Commerce shall submit to the Committee on Commerce, 

8 Science, and Transportation of the Senate and the Com9 mittee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House 

10 of Representatives a report that sets forth transition and 

11 continuity of operations plans for the functional and ad12 ministrative transfer of the Office of Space Commerce 

13 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra14 tion to the Office of the Secretary of Commerce. 

Æ 


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