Joy Agwunobi
Satellite operators from the United States, China and other regions are calling on the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to strengthen communication channels among companies, warning that gaps in coordination pose risks to the safety of satellites in orbit.
The concerns were raised during a panel at the International Astronautical Congress, where industry representatives discussed challenges around potential conjunctions—instances where satellites come dangerously close to one another. According to the report by SpaceNews, the panelists stressed that the absence of effective contact and data-sharing protocols remains a pressing problem for the growing space industry.
David Goldman, vice president of satellite policy at SpaceX, argued that the most critical step operators can take is sharing orbital ephemerides,precise data on satellite positions and movements.
“We see satellites getting launched into operational orbits of other systems without talking to each other, without sharing data,” Goldman said, adding that “Sharing orbital ephemerides is the single most important thing you can do to help decrease risk in space.”
Goldman explained that while SpaceX and Amazon have established close working arrangements especially when Amazon launches batches of Project Kuiper satellites that must transit through Starlink’s orbital shells,coordination is far less reliable with other operators.
“We really have not had issues because we’re talking to each other closely. You can have a lot of satellites operating if you’re communicating well and working together well,” he added.
Josef Koller, head of space safety and sustainability for Amazon’s Project Kuiper, reinforced Goldman’s concerns.
“We work very closely together on space safety. We share our ephemeris, our maneuver plans and, at the technical level, we’re screening our orbits,” he said.
However, Koller warned that the challenge lies with operators Amazon cannot contact. With an estimated 1,500 operational payloads passing through Kuiper’s orbits, he said the company only has reliable contact information for half of them.
“That’s really not a very safe environment,” Koller said. “It seems like such a simple thing to do to share your contact information or your email address so we can reach out to you about who is going to maneuver or not.”
A Chinese perspective on the panel also emphasised the issue. Peng Zhang, general manager of the solutions department at GalaxySpace, said Chinese operators face similar communication gaps.
“We always know who to contact for frequency coordination, but we don’t know who to talk to about satellite operations,” he explained.
The ITU’s Potential Role
Panelists suggested that the ITU could become a trusted platform for facilitating contact information exchanges. Goldman highlighted persistent “trust issues between operators and between countries” but said the ITU could help bridge that gap.
Jorge Ciccorossi, head of the Space Strategy and Sustainability Division of the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau, confirmed that the matter will be high on the agenda at the ITU Space Sustainability Forum next week in Geneva.
“One of the things we’re going to coordinate among the key LEO operators is trying to exchange direct points of contact,” Ciccorossi said. “It’s really important to have quick access to this.”
He added that improved transparency could also mitigate radio-frequency interference, with the ITU preparing to publish contact details from member states and satellite operators online.
“Certainty and transparency are the two pillars if you want to have sustainability,” he said.
Differing Views on Regulation
While operators generally agreed that better communication was essential, they diverged on whether the ITU should go further. Peng suggested drafting a “code of conduct” for satellite operators, though without further detail.
Goldman, however, cautioned against moving too quickly toward regulations.
“Sometimes, when there is an effort to rush to regulation before people really understand the issue, you can have counterproductive rules,” he said, warning that ITU’s slow regulatory cycles could lag far behind the pace of developments in orbit.
For now, Goldman argued, the ITU’s greatest value lies not in enforcing rules but in serving as a facilitator.
“Having the ITU serve as a facilitator of communications is the single best thing that we can do to lower the risk,”Goldman added.
