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Space Traffic Management (STM) Needed Now
Crowded conditions in space around Earth (the rest of space remains mostly empty!) have raised concerns about large constellations of satellites like Starlink (see Starlink Orbital Network Like Coruscant Traffic Jam).
By making the STM functions available as services, the architecture reduces the amount of expertise that must be available internally within a particular organization, thereby reducing the barriers to operating in space and providing participants with the information necessary to behave responsibly. Operational support for collision avoidance, separation, etc., is managed through a decentralized architecture, rather than via a single centralized government-administered system.
The STM system is based on the use of standardized Application Programming Interfaces (API) to allow easier interconnection and conceptual definition of roles to more easily allow suppliers with different capabilities to add value to the ecosystem. The architecture handles basic functions including registration, discovery, authentication of participants, and auditable tracking of data provenance and integrity. The technology is able to integrate data from multiple sources.
(Via NASA.)
As far as I know, the first use of the term "space traffic" occurred in m Satan in Exile, by Arthur William Bernal, published by Weird Tales in 1935:
This term joined others like spaceways from Shambleau (1933), by C.L. Moore and of course space-lanes from Crashing Suns (1928), by Edmond Hamilton.
While efforts to date have focused on improving Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and enabling operator to operator coordination, there is growing recognition that a broader system for Space Traffic Management (STM) is necessary. The STM architecture forms the framework for an STM ecosystem, which enables the addition of third parties that can identify and fill niches by providing new, useful services.
Satan’s streaking vessel reached the appointed sector of space first. He nodded in silent satisfaction at Threepa’s choice of a dueling-field; the spot was a lonely one in an uncharted region, far from the normal lanes of space traffic. In all the diamond-studded blankness reproduced on his seeing-plates, Satan could detect no alien presence, not even the braggart Threepa’s pirate ship, the Vroola.
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