SpaceX Gets Military Orbit-Tracking Data, Raising Questions About Who Controls Space Traffic

The U.S. military has given SpaceX access to restricted space tracking data, The Guardian reported, a move that critics say could make Elon Musk’s company the de facto source of space traffic coordination in the United States. The access covers the military’s most precise information on possible collisions among satellites and other objects in orbit.

SpaceX and the Space Force signed a new contract. Neither responded to The Guardian’s requests for comment, but a Space Force spokesperson acknowledged the arrangement in a statement to Breaking Defense.

What SpaceX now has access to

According to The Guardian, the Space Force for the first time gave a commercial company “enhanced” access to the most detailed, secure version of U.S. Space Command’s High Accuracy Catalog of objects in orbit. That includes tracking messages built from data collected by military sensors, telescopes and ground radars, which follow satellites and other objects in lower orbit down to about 10cm (3.93in) in size.

The military largely uses these radars to watch other countries’ satellites, but the data is also used to track commercial spacecraft and avoid collisions. The information is designated controlled unclassified information and has been closely held, The Guardian reported.

The data is valuable to Starlink, the SpaceX satellite internet subsidiary, which runs its own tracking system called Stargaze. That system, built from cameras and radars on Starlink satellites, sees objects only down to about a half meter and is less accurate than the military’s. The government gets something in return: access to Stargaze cameras and sensors.

What critics say

Cole Donovan, a former employee of the federal space traffic program and now with the nonprofit Stand Up for Science, told The Guardian the access appears to be another step toward Musk asserting monopoly control over commercial space activity. He compared it to giving a trucking company control of the traffic lights.

The Guardian said the move follows the 2025 firing of many staff members of the Traffic Coordination System for Space, known as Traccs, by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. It also noted that the administration has twice tried to cut the program’s funding. Many in the industry viewed those steps as an effort to privatize space traffic control, the outlet said, and some observers fear the government is becoming too dependent on SpaceX.

What the military and other voices say

The Space Force spokesperson told Breaking Defense that the service is working with several companies to trade commercial data for access to parts of the controlled, unclassified catalog, where that benefits the government. A SpaceX employee said at an industry conference that the military’s radar data is an extremely valuable supplement to Stargaze, according to Breaking Defense.

A former official at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, speaking anonymously, told The Guardian that SpaceX has generally been responsive to space safety concerns and that Starlink should not be faulted for stepping into a gap. The official said the larger failure was the government’s, for not setting up a coherent framework with a level playing field for all operators.

Why it matters: safety in a crowded orbit

Traccs manages thousands of satellites, debris and spacecraft and helps prevent up to 50,000 near-collisions, called conjunctions, every day, according to The Guardian. Starlink operates about 11,000 satellites and could have as many as 20,000 in the coming years. Who supplies and controls collision data therefore bears on the safety of satellites that people rely on, and on competition in a commercial space market expected to be worth nearly $2 trillion over the next decade.

What happens next for Traccs

Traccs, created during the first Trump administration, has never been fully funded or staffed. In fiscal year 2026 the administration tried to largely defund the $65 million program, but Congress put the money back. The administration has proposed cutting the budget to nearly zero for fiscal year 2027, and the House again reinserted the funding. The administration, Congress and industry are debating what comes next.

Around Prague, based on reporting by The Guardian