The Defense Department has agreed to give SpaceX exclusive access to the government’s most classified space‑tracking data, a move that could reshape who sees the most precise picture of what flies through low Earth orbit and how that picture is used, sources told Breaking Defense.
What the Joint Commercial Operations Cell and US Space Command provided
According to a dozen government and industry sources cited by Breaking Defense, a “contractual agreement” has been signed between SpaceX and the Space Force’s Joint Commercial Operations Cell (JCO) that gives SpaceX access to US Space Command’s most detailed version of the High Accuracy Catalog (HAC).
The Space Force official who described the deal to Breaking Defense said the exchange is a two‑way trade: SpaceX provides the JCO data from Stargaze star‑tracking cameras and in return receives access to what industry sources characterize as Vector Covariance Message (VCM)‑level information — the HAC’s most precise product, including volumetric covariance “error bubbles.” The official, speaking on background, said there are “stipulations” that the data be for “internal use” only and that SpaceX is “not allowed to use that for any sort of commercial gain or benefit.”
SpaceX’s Stargaze and why the data is useful
SpaceX has built Stargaze using star trackers on its own broadband constellation. Jon Herman, SpaceX senior director for Starlink constellation engineering, told the AMOS conference on Sept. 17 that Stargaze uses about 30,000 star‑tracking cameras on Starlink satellites and can detect objects “down to about a meter/half a meter in size,” allowing it to “see more than 80 percent of the Space Force catalog that is below 600 kilometers.”
Herman explained why combining viewing modalities matters: “Starlink satellites are ‘bad at seeing the small stuff,’ and therefore ‘radar data is an extremely valuable tool to supplement Stargaze.’” He said Starlink performs roughly “20,000 maneuvers every single day,” of which about “1,000 of those daily maneuvers are to avoid collisions,” and that most collision‑avoidance burns are for non‑Starlink objects.
Stargaze does not publish its internal catalog; operators who participate receive services derived from it, such as conjunction screening. Herman said about 100 operators have been “onboarded” to receive products and services tied to Stargaze.
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End the scrambleVCMs, covariances and the hierarchy of government catalogs
Breaking Defense lays out three catalog levels used by US Space Command. The public snapshot format is the two‑line elements (TLEs) available via Space‑Track.org. A higher fidelity but non‑public product is the Special Perturbations‑High Accuracy Catalog (SP‑HAC), which the command shares under agreement. The most precise version incorporates Vector Covariance Messages (VCMs), which add volumetric covariance error bubbles and historically have been classified and largely retained for internal military use.
Industry sources told Breaking Defense that while some firms have been given limited VCM access in the past, no other company besides SpaceX has received routine VCM‑level access and error bubbles for non‑government use. The Pentagon has shared covariances with the Commerce Department for its Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS) after protracted negotiation, the report said.
What this means for SpaceX, the Joint Commercial Operations Cell, and commercial rivals
- SpaceX/Starlink: The Space Force official’s “internal use” clause implies SpaceX may be permitted to fuse VCM‑grade data into its own operational catalog to plan safe maneuvers for Starlink and Starshield satellites.
- JCO/Space Force/SPACECOM: Access to Stargaze observations could improve the fidelity of fused commercial surveillance data available via the Unified Data Library, the report notes, while the JCO’s acquisition oversight was referred to Space Force Space Systems Command by JCO head Barbara Golf.
- Commercial competitors: Firms that sell high‑fidelity LEO tracking worry that routine VCM access for a free service could undercut for‑profit providers and create a feedback loop where Stargaze attracts more contributors and customers because it is free and increasingly accurate.
Commercial reaction, DARPA funding and market worry
Industry voices at AMOS and elsewhere expressed explicit concern. Audrey Schaffer, senior vice president for global policy and government strategy at Slingshot Aerospace, told the AMOS conference on Sept. 17: “It’s very very hard to compete with free when you have costs.”
Others envisioned worst‑case scenarios in which Stargaze, armed with classified covariance data and a large installed base, could displace paid providers and later monetize that dominance. Breaking Defense reported no evidence that the JCO arrangement has affected Stargaze products to date, but said terms of the agreement remain secret and industry speculation is widespread.
Quilty Space’s August 28 analysis added another commercial angle: the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) provided $107.7 million in contracts to SpaceX under a program called Space‑WATCH (Space‑domain Wide Area Tracking and Characterization), launched in 2023; Quilty said SpaceX is “the only known supplier” for that work.
The deal reported by Breaking Defense leaves two concrete, related questions unanswered in the public record: how strictly the “internal use” restrictions will be enforced in practice, and whether the HAC/VCM data may play any background role in improving products SpaceX provides to non‑military operators. Until the JCO contract terms are released or more detailed official responses are published, those questions — and the market consequences industry participants fear — will remain the flashpoints of debate.
