SpaceX has agreed to supply Stargaze observations in exchange for access to a U.S. military orbital catalog, Breaking Defense reported, prompting industry concern over the impact on commercial space-safety services.
The outlet reported Sept. 23 that the agreement links Stargaze with U.S. Space Command’s High Accuracy Catalog, through the Space Force’s Joint Commercial Operations Cell. Breaking Defense cited government and industry sources and said a Space Force official confirmed the signed arrangement. It did not specify when the exchange began.
In a Sept. 30 update, Breaking Defense quoted a Space Force spokesperson describing exchanges with several companies involving controlled, unclassified catalog information. The spokesperson said the exchanges contain no classified information and cover part of the material made available to the Department of Commerce for its Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS). The service did not identify the catalog data SpaceX receives or say whether its access is exclusive.
Breaking Defense also cited an unnamed Space Force official who said SpaceX could use the information in its internal operations but not for commercial benefit. The agreement has not been made public.
SpaceX says Stargaze uses tens of thousands of star trackers aboard Starlink satellites and processes more than 30 million transits a day. The company says the system does not track every object in public radar catalogs. SpaceX also says its space-safety platform is free for participating spacecraft operators and screens for collision risks using operator-submitted data and Stargaze observations.
Industry sources told Breaking Defense that access to government data could improve Stargaze and put commercial tracking firms at a disadvantage. The outlet said those sources had no evidence that the agreement had changed Stargaze products.
The exchange comes as the U.S. government transfers public spaceflight-safety services to TraCSS. In October 2024, the Space Force and U.S. Space Command announced a phased transfer of those services to the Department of Commerce. A 2018 space policy directive assigned the department the lead civilian-agency role for basic space-situational-awareness data and public coordination services.
