SpaceX unveils ‘Stargaze’ space tracking system

SpaceX has unveiled an online tool, called Stargaze, for tracking space objects and warning of potential on-orbit collisions — with a promise to provide the system’s space situational awareness (SSA) data free of charge to other satellite operators.

SpaceX recently faced a collision scare in December when a Chinese satellite nearby one of its Starlink communication birds made an unannounced maneuver. That and other near misses over the past year has prompted the company to lower some 4,400 Starlinks to about 480 kilometers where there is less congestion, in part because dead satellites and other debris falls out of orbit faster due to the stronger gravitational pull of the Earth.

Stargaze is generating SSA data based on the use by the company’s nearly 9,600 Starlink satellites to orient themselves, and “significantly enhances the safety and sustainability of satellite operations in low Earth orbit (LEO),” according to SpaceX’s website.

Read more at Breaking Defense