← Back to NASA Technology Projects
Commercial Space Vehicle Tracking using ADS-B Technology
Completed
TRL 7 (started at 4, targeting 7)
Description
Current ADS-B equipment used for aviation cannot handle the environments presented by spaceflight, nor the dynamic loads caused by re-entry. Researchers seek to address this shortcoming by leveraging existing, flight-proven 1,090 MHz Extended Squitter (1090ES) technology and operational FAA infrastructure to integrate commercial space vehicles with other users as they operate in the National Airspace System (NAS). Testing aims to demonstrate operation during reusable launch vehicle flight.
Benefits
• Market-expanding: Stands to increase availability of NAS to more users
• Established: Leverages flight-proven 1090ES ADS-B technology
• Evaluative: Investigates the capability of Aireon’s low-Earth orbit (LEO) Iridium constellation for sRLV tracking
Details
| Technology area | Air Traffic Management and Range Tracking Systems > Range Tracking, Surveillance, and Flight Safety Technologies |
| Program | Flight Opportunities (FO) |
| Lead organization | FAA-AST |
| Start date | 2020-09-01 |
| End date | 2024-09-30 |
Project contacts
Listed on TechPort itself — the most direct way to ask about this specific project.
How to get involved
This is a mature technology (TRL 7) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.
None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.