U.S. Department of Defense granted SpaceX exclusive access to secret data on tracking space objects

The Insider recounts a Breaking Defense article saying that the U.S. Department of Defense granted SpaceX exclusive access to secret data on tracking space objects. It is unclear how long this arrangement has been in place, but according to the publication, it has already caused concern in the American space monitoring industry.

A representative of the U.S. Space Force said that under the existing agreements, SpaceX receives access to the most detailed version of the High Accuracy Catalog (HAC). This database contains the most complete and accurate information about the location of all tracked objects in near-Earth orbit, and in return the company provides data from its Stargaze star-tracking cameras.

According to the representative, SpaceX receives this data only for internal use. Government and industry sources, however, say it remains unclear whether the company can use this information to improve the accuracy of the products and analytics it sells to non-military space operators.

The U.S. Space Force and SpaceX did not respond to journalists’ official requests. At the conference, company director John Herman, who oversees the development of Starlink satellite constellation systems, did not comment on the deal itself and only explained that Starlink satellites poorly detect small objects, so radar data is useful as a supplement to Stargaze.

Sources

• Material: theins.ru