Office of Space Commerce

What Office of Space Commerce does

The Office of Space Commerce (OSC) is a bureau of the U.S. Department of Commerce, headquartered in Washington, D.C., responsible for advancing U.S. commercial space interests domestically and internationally. Its core mission spans two workstreams: regulatory authorization and supervision of U.S. commercial remote sensing space systems through the Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs (CRSRA) program, and civil space situational awareness (SSA) delivered via the Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS). TraCSS is the agency's flagship platform, providing SSA data and conjunction assessment services to satellite owner/operators to mitigate orbital congestion and collision risk in Earth's increasingly congested orbits. The agency also operates supporting functions including space commerce certification, export control guidance, an online technical standards database, and the Space Commerce Ideas Inbox for stakeholder policy input.

TraCSS is positioned as the U.S. government's civil alternative to legacy Department of Defense SSA sharing arrangements, offering free registration and coordinated services to operators and, as of June 2026, onboarding National Government Accounts for international coordination. Underlying technical components include a conjunction assessment dataset, user agreement and data policy framework, and joint studies with the EU Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST) program for cross-Atlantic service comparison. Notable non-platform activities include the University Spacecraft Operators Forum and Space Workforce Forum convened by OSC's TraCSS team.

OSC does not operate a commercial revenue model; it is funded through federal appropriations under the Department of Commerce. Its customers are categorical rather than transactional: U.S. commercial remote sensing operators subject to CRSRA licensing, satellite owner/operators eligible for TraCSS services, university and academic spacecraft operators, and national governments engaging through bilateral workshops (e.g., India-US Joint SSA Workshop with ISRO/ISTRAC in June 2026) and multilateral forums such as the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. GTM motion is non-commercial, executed through official websites, newsletters, seminars, webinars, and diplomatic channels rather than sales organizations.

Name

Office of Space Commerce

Legal name

Office of Space Commerce

Website

https://space.commerce.gov

Company type

Public

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Office of Space Commerce is a U.S. Department of Commerce bureau that regulates commercial remote sensing operators and provides the TraCSS space situational awareness and conjunction assessment platform to satellite operators and national governments.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Space Situational Awareness and Traffic Coordination

NAICS

Space Research and Technology (92711)

akta.pro primary industry

Ground Segment Systems (Ground Stations, TT&C, Mission Ops) (IMABACAJ)

Keywords

• Space situational awareness
• Space traffic coordination
• Commercial space regulation
• Remote sensing licensing
• Space policy advocacy

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Others

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Office of Space Commerce runs the Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS), which delivers space situational awareness data and conjunction assessment services to satellite owner/operators to preserve safety in Earth's congested orbits. It also administers the Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs (CRSRA) program that authorizes and supervises U.S. commercial remote sensing space systems, and supports space commerce through certification, policy advocacy, and international cooperation on space situational awareness.

Product overview

Office of Space Commerce operates as a U.S. government office under the Department of Commerce, offering a portfolio of services centered around space situational awareness, regulatory affairs, and policy advocacy for the commercial space industry. The core product is the Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS), which provides space operators with SSA data and services to enhance spaceflight safety. Supporting services include Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs (CRSRA) for licensing and compliance monitoring, Space Commerce Certification, and Space Policy advocacy. Additional resources include the Space Industry Technical Standards Online Database and the Space Commerce Ideas Inbox for stakeholder engagement. The office also facilitates international cooperation through initiatives like TraCSS-EU joint studies and various international forums.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• TraCSS (Traffic Coordination System for Space): A system developed by OSC to provide space situational awareness data and services to space operators to enhance spaceflight safety and ensure usability of Earth's congested orbits.
• CRSRA (Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs)

Products and services

• Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS)
• Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs (CRSRA)
• Space Commerce Certification

Quantifiable outcome

• TraCSS Goes Global: International Government Onboarding Begins

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.

• IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 22 June 2026From June 22-23, 2026, representatives of OSC and ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) hosted a 2-day India-US Joint Space Situational Awareness Workshop in Bangalore, India. Convening government and industry experts to advance bilateral SSA cooperation.
• ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2026Co-hosting the India-US Joint SSA Workshop with OSC for bilateral space situational awareness cooperation and knowledge sharing between Indian and U.S. space agencies.
• United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN COPUOS)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 June 2026OSC staff participated as members of the United States Delegation at the 69th Session of UN COPUOS, focusing on SSA coordination internationally.
• European Union (EU) Space AgencycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 May 2026TraCSS-EU SST Joint Studies & Service Comparison - ongoing cooperation between U.S. TraCSS and European Space Surveillance and Tracking (EUSST) programs for service comparison and global SSA coordination.
• U.S. Department of CommerceflagshipOthersOSC operates as an office within the U.S. Department of Commerce, responsible for advancing U.S. commercial space interests.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• LeoLabs: LeoLabs is the leading commercial provider of SSA tracking and collision-warning data built on a global radar network—a functional competitor serving the same satellite owner/operator base that TraCSS targets.
• Slingshot Aerospace: Slingshot builds SSA, space-domain-awareness, and training products for commercial operators and allied governments, directly overlapping the conjunction-screening and STM niche OSC is filling with TraCSS.
• ExoAnalytic Solutions: ExoAnalytic provides commercial space tracking and SSA products from a global optical sensor network, competing in the same operator-facing SSA market as TraCSS.
• EU Space Surveillance and Tracking (EUSST): The pooled EU SST capability provides civil SSA and collision-avoidance services to European satellite operators and is OSC's direct functional counterpart—already paired with TraCSS in joint studies and service comparison work.

Regional players

• JAXA: JAXA coordinates Japanese civil SSA and commercial-space policy, functioning as OSC's national-government counterpart in a different geography with overlapping civil-space responsibilities.
• IN-SPACe (India): India's space regulator and promoter authorizes private space activity in India and is a core OSC partner following the June 2026 India–U.S. Joint SSA Workshop—comparable as a foreign national-space regulator with similar scope.
• UK Space Agency: The UK Space Agency is the U.K. government's lead on civil space policy and coordinates national SSA activities—a foreign, geographically distinct counterpart to OSC's advocacy and coordination remit.

Broad incumbents

• NOAA: NOAA oversees U.S. commercial remote sensing policy through its commercial-space programs and operates environmental satellites, giving it regulatory and data-product overlap with OSC's CRSRA licensing work.
• FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation: FAA AST licenses and oversees U.S. commercial launch and re-entry activity, making it the closest U.S. federal peer to OSC for commercial-space regulatory authority within the same Department of Commerce ecosystem.
• U.S. Space Force / United States Space Command: DoD's military space tracker operates the legacy SSA catalog and currently holds the space-domain-awareness mission from which OSC is gradually absorbing civil STM responsibilities—a closely related but much larger incumbent.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/CommerceinSpace
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/office-of-space-commerce

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Office of Space Commerce