The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), which includes Iridium, Eutelsat Group, SpaceX, and Amazon Leo, compiled the third edition of its list of space traffic management best practices to improve operational coordination in space in their “Satellite Orbital Safety Best Practices 3.0.”  These best practices are intended to supplement existing orbital debris mitigation rules, such as the FCC’s rules in 47 C.F.R. § 25.114.  The best practices outline space station design standards and operational practices that the AIAA believes will facilitate the sharing of orbital resources while limiting the potential for collisions and other orbital debris generating occurrences.  Below are some of AIAA’s notable recommendations for satellite operators:

Design Phase

• Collision avoidance (COLA) implications. Evaluate the conjunction risk during launch, at insertion altitude, and throughout the operational orbit.  If possible, consider making minor changes to avoid systematic conjunctions in crowded orbits.  Coordinate with other owner/operators (O/Os) to establish COLA communication and adjudication protocols for potential conjunctions.  Fuel budgets should provide for high-interest COLA events that may require conjunction mitigation maneuvers. (A-1, pp. 5-6)
• Hardware. To safely navigate the orbit and mitigate “late notice” conjunctions, design satellites with reliable and predictable maneuverability.  For systems that lack propulsion, risk mitigation may include integrating the capability to maneuver into a low cross-section orientation into satellite design. (A-2, pp. 7-8)

Pre-Launch and Early Orbit Phase

• Transit strategy coordination. Coordinate with constellation operators in the same orbital path to facilitate safe crossings.  Screening authorities, such as the 18^th Space Defense Squadron or third-party companies, maintain a catalog of space objects.  Ensure that the screening authority receives the appropriate contact information, operational altitudes, preferred hard body radius, propulsion, and planned trajectory alterations in any propagated ephemerides.  This catalog informs the conjunction assessments (CA) that NASA’s Orbital Safety Analysts (OSAs) perform three times a day. (B-1, pp. 11-12)

On Orbit Phase

• Ephemerides predictions. Generate the predicted ephemerides for a spacecraft on a regular basis, submit them to the CA screening authority daily, and make them available to all other operators. (C-1, pp. 15-16)
• High-risk conjunction mitigation. Communicate with the O/Os of secondary objects with active payloads to coordinate maneuvers and trajectory changes that do not create additional high-risk conjunctions. (C-3, pp. 19-20)