The Satellite Dashboard is a web-based tool that will collate and analyze space situational awareness (SSA) data on specific activities of interest and present it in an accessible format, while also providing a queuing function for further technical analysis. The Dashboard collates data from multiple sources, including publicly-available data provided by the U.S. military, commercial SSA providers, and data provided by international, scientific, and academic sources.
Satellite Dashboard is a collaboration between the Secure World Foundation (SWF), the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at the University of Texas at Austin.
This project was initiated because the number of actors and types of activities that rely on space is rapidly and dramatically increasing. More countries than ever are investing in counterspace capabilities that will enable them to deceive, disrupt, deny, degrade, or destroy space systems of potential adversaries, including the United States. While our ability to understand the space environment, characterize and attribute actions, track the behavior of space objects, and detect threats has improved over time, this space situational awareness information is extremely technical in nature and difficult to aggregate and comprehend, especially for policymakers and media. Strategic stability in the space domain that enhances U.S. national security requires an enhanced understanding of space activities and potential threats so that decision makers are empowered to make sound policy choices, collaborate with allies and partners, deter adversaries, and communicate to the public.
The goal of the Satellite Dashboard is to create that enhanced, common understanding. The hope is that policymakers, space experts, commercial industry, and the media will be able to use the Dashboard as a reference to better understand potentially destabilizing activities in space in a way that supports informed decision-making and open dialogue.
Source: Satellite Database
