The U.S. Space Force and SpaceX have signed a contract under which the commercial operator receives enhanced access to the military’s most precise tracking information on objects in orbit, the Space Force said. It is the first time a commercial company has obtained that level of access to the most detailed and secure version of U.S. Space Command’s High Accuracy Catalog, or Hac. SpaceX and the Space Force did not respond to requests for comment from The Guardian, but the Space Force acknowledged the arrangement in a statement to Breaking Defense.

The contract pairs military tracking information with commercial sensor observations. SpaceX receives selected sections of the controlled, unclassified High Accuracy Catalog, while the U.S. government gains access to Starlink’s Stargaze cameras and sensors. A Space Force spokesperson told Breaking Defense that the service was engaging several companies to exchange commercial data sources for sections of the catalog when the exchange would benefit the U.S. government.

The material includes Vector Covariance Messages, or VCMs, assembled from tracking data collected by military sensors, telescopes and ground-based radars. Together, those systems follow satellites and other objects in lower orbit down to about 10 centimeters (3.93 inches). The military chiefly uses the information to monitor other countries’ satellite positions, while also using it to track commercial spacecraft and objects and avoid collisions.

Starlink, SpaceX’s broadband subsidiary, operates about 11,000 satellites in orbit and could have as many as 20,000 in coming years. Its Stargaze system uses thousands of cameras and radars mounted on those satellites, but detects objects only down to about half a meter and is less accurate than the military system. A SpaceX employee at an industry conference, quoted by Breaking Defense, described the military radar data as extremely valuable for supplementing Stargaze. The Guardian said the access would give Musk’s companies an advantage over competitors offering a similar service.

The military designated the VCM material as controlled unclassified information and had kept it closely held because it could expose limits of defense capabilities. Industry observers said the Defense Department also wanted to prevent the reverse engineering of satellite sensors used to monitor other nations’ defense satellites. They said the new access raised national-security questions.

Traccs was created to take over commercial space traffic

The first Trump administration established the Traffic Coordination System for Space, or Traccs, to take commercial space-traffic coordination from the Defense Department. The program manages thousands of satellites, debris and spacecraft and helps prevent as many as 50,000 near-collisions, called conjunctions, each day. Yet it has never been fully funded or staffed, and it has struggled to take root.

Cole Donovan, a former Traccs employee now with the Stand Up for Science nonprofit, said collision avoidance was among the responsibilities the military no longer wanted and had been expected to transfer to Traccs. Instead, SpaceX received access to the data.

During the fiscal 2026 budget process, the administration tried to defund most of the $65 million program. Congress reinserted the funding. For fiscal 2027, the administration proposed cutting the budget to nearly zero, and the House reinserted the money again.

The contract came after two other administration moves: Doge, which Musk led, fired many Traccs staff members in 2025, and the administration tried twice to reduce the program’s budget. Those firings and budget efforts were widely viewed in the industry as an attempt by Musk to privatize space-traffic control. Separately, employees at commercial space companies have told The Guardian since early 2025 that broad industry support for Traccs rested on its ability to level the playing field.

Assessments diverged over safety, oversight and market power

On the value of the exchange, Cole Donovan, a former Traccs employee now with the Stand Up for Science nonprofit, said, “The more observations and data that [the military] has, the better.” Donovan also said the unprecedented access appeared to be another step toward Musk asserting monopoly control over commercial space activity more broadly. He said the administration’s apparent effort to privatize and consolidate power with a Trump ally was consistent with its broader approach to governance. The Guardian reported that the commercial U.S. space market was expected to reach nearly $2tn in value over the next decade.

Donovan said the arrangement was making SpaceX a de facto source for U.S. space-traffic coordination. He compared the position to giving a trucking company control of traffic lights it could switch to red when competitors wanted to proceed.

SpaceX has been expanding its power over launch and other space services while growing closer links with the U.S. government. Multiple industry observers have said that, since the Trump administration took over, they fear a “vendor lock” scenario in which the government becomes overly reliant on SpaceX because SpaceX has immense influence and is technologically advanced.

A former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, offered a more qualified assessment. The official said SpaceX had largely been “remarkably responsive to space safety concerns” and that Starlink should not be faulted for entering an area the government had failed to address adequately. “My greater disappointment is with the government’s failure to fulfil its responsibility to establish a coherent space governance framework that provides guidance, transparency, and a level playing field for all operators,” the official said.

Craig Holman, a Capitol Hill lobbyist for Public Citizen, a government-accountability nonprofit, framed the arrangement as an ethical conflict and another example of the Trump administration rewarding a donor with business opportunities. Holman said Musk had bought the administration’s favor and lucrative federal contracts in the space industry through his political support, adding that the investment was paying off handsomely as intended.

The competing assessments left the institutional question unresolved as the administration, Congress and industry continued debating Traccs. The contract gives SpaceX more precise orbital information and the government additional sensor observations, but it does not settle the broader question of who should manage U.S. space traffic.