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S. 428119th CongressScience, Technology, Communications
SAFE Orbit Act
Sponsored by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) · 7 active : 3 Republicans, 4 Democrats
Latest action: Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 170.
Where it standsBefore the Senate10 senators score as swing votes
Hasn’t passed either chamber
- Senate: next
- House: not yet
- President: not yet
Summary
, via Congress.govSituational Awareness of Flying Elements in Orbit Act or the SAFE Orbit Act
This bill provides statutory authority for the Traffic Coordination System for Space, which is being developed by the Office of Space Commerce to provide space situational awareness data and services to space operators. (
Space situational awareness
means an understanding of the space operational environment and the identification, tracking, and prediction of the behavior of space objects and debris.)
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As an initial matter, the bill provides for the elevation of the Office of Space Commerce to a standalone bureau within the Department of Commerce. (The office currently sits within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.)
The bill authorizes the bureau to acquire location tracking data, positional and orbit determination information, conjunction data messages, and other data, analytics, information, and services deemed necessary to avoid collisions in space. The bureau must disseminate this information at no charge (1) through a public database of space situational awareness information and services, including space traffic coordination; and (2) through the provision of basic situational awareness services to satellite operators. The bill also sets forth certain requirements for the collection and dissemination of such information, including that, to the extent practicable, the provision of service to satellite operators may not compete with private situational awareness products.
Finally, the bill provides immunity for the United States government from any suit for a cause of action arising from the provision or receipt of space situational awareness services or information.
Committees and subjects
Committees
- Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation · SenateReported by · Markup by · Referred to
Subjects
- Advanced technology and technological innovations
- Congressional oversight
- Department of Commerce
- Executive agency funding and structure
- International scientific cooperation
- Space flight and exploration
- Spacecraft and satellites
Model
Directional: count only breaks toward the other partyWhy do scores change?v3default (selected)v2 model swing-v2
How the Senate breaks down
- 10Swing 70–100
- 56Middle 30–70
- 34Entrenched 0–30
Members fall into . All 100 senators have enough data to score.
Key players in the Senate
Ranked by swing score, 0–100 · swing-v3, directional: only movement toward the other party counts, so members who sit further from the center than their party no longer score as swing votes.
Bars show each input from 0 to 100: ideology gap, scorecard gap, , and the . is the seat’s partisan lean, and shows how much of the input data a score has.
Similar past votes, Senate
Earlier behind swing-v3’s inputLoading similar votes
Cosponsors
7 activeShow all 7 cosponsors
- Ben Ray Luján (D-NM)
- Eric Schmitt (R-MO)
- Gary C. Peters (D-MI)
- John W. Hickenlooper (D-CO)
- Mark Kelly (D-AZ)
- Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)
- Roger F. Wicker (R-MS)
How the swing score works
Ideology gapHow far a member’s DW-NOMINATE voting score sits from their party’s median in the same chamber.
Scorecard gapHow far their Heritage Action and LCV ratings stray from their party’s average, using the groups’ votes on similar bills where available.
Cross-pressureHow strongly their district or state leans toward the other party, from our own computed partisan lean.
Similar votesHow often they voted against their own party on earlier roll calls about this bill or similar ones.
Committee bonusMembers of the committees handling the bill decide whether it moves, so they get a boost.
Cosponsor checkThe sponsor and active cosponsors have already committed, so they drop toward entrenched.
