A recently issued Executive Order revises how the government implements Space Policy Directive-3, removing the longstanding expectation that basic space situational awareness (SSA) services, including conjunction warnings, would be provided without charge. This decision marks a departure not only from SPD-3, but from more than a decade of United States practice in which Congress and successive administrations supported the sharing of SSA information as a core safety function without directing agencies to charge for basic warnings. With that decision made, a more fundamental question comes into focus: What problem is charging for space situational awareness actually intended to solve?
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