US State Department Selects Hoover Fellow Simone D’Amico for UN Panel on Space Situational Awareness and Satellite Safety

Hoover Institution (Stanford, CA) - A Hoover scholar who studies ways to manage satellite and space debris congestion in earth's orbit is joining a federal effort to shape international space and satellite policy.

Science Fellow Simone D'Amico will join a US State Department discussion group to help inform the US position at the United Nations on how to improve space traffic coordination and address the challenges arising from the proliferation of objects in space.

"Our policy framework was built in the 1960s for a world that averaged fewer than one hundred satellites per year, not today's reality of thousands launched annually and massive constellations with satellites maneuvering every day," D'Amico said. "The treaties that govern space contain no provisions for large-scale proliferation, routine proximity operations, or commercial mega constellations of satellites, leaving critical gaps in safety, coordination, and accountability."

The State Department's Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs is seeking "private sector participants" to "advise the US delegation" to the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS) "on the topic of space situational awareness (SSA)."

Space situational awareness involves the study of the entire space environment, including all natural and human-made moving objects within it, in order to anticipate and prevent collisions between objects and ensure the safe operation of spacecraft.

UNCOPUOS was established in 1959 to "govern the exploration and use of space for the benefit of all humanity; for peace, security and development." In recent years it has been tasked with managing the growing number of satellites and the rising volume of space debris orbiting the earth.

Since the launch of the first spacecraft in the late 1950s, the number of known and tracked satellites and objects of debris orbiting the earth has risen to at least several tens of thousands, according to international organizations such as UNCOPUOS.

The debris items range in size from tiny particles to the defunct Envisat satellite, which is more than 80 feet tall and 33 feet wide.

"Today's space environment transforms far faster than our ability to track or predict it. Near misses between objects in space number in the millions per year, and coverage gaps still leave large portions of Earth orbit poorly observed," D'Amico said. "Uncertainty in space object position can change by kilometers in mere hours, making timely and reliable collision avoidance extremely difficult. The issue is not the number of satellites or debris objects in orbit per se but rather their speed, our ability to track them, and the associated orbital uncertainty."

D'Amico and other participants will attend upcoming meetings of UNCOPUOS in Vienna in 2026 to offer their views on ways to foster safe and economically viable operations from an SSA perspective. They will help to answer key questions such as what SSA-relevant information should be shared, and how, among satellite operators or whether there should be an international coordination mechanism for data sharing.

D'Amico is an associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics at Stanford University and founding director of the Space Rendezvous Laboratory (SLAB). His work centers on autonomous distributed space systems, guidance, navigation and control, AI for space, and the technologies that underpin SSA.

His lab develops algorithms and testbeds to detect, track, and characterize spacecraft during swarming, formation-flying, rendezvous, and proximity operations in space. The group contributes to multisatellite missions designed to operate safely in congested orbits. Current efforts include NASA's Starling and STARI missions and National Science Foundation-backed VISORS and SWARM-EX. These projects advance cooperative autonomy and sensing in low Earth orbit, supporting more resilient SSA.

A 2025 working paper from his team outlines the growth of orbital congestion and underscores the need for better SSA to protect services and national security. His research links technology development with policy recommendations to maintain safe access to space.

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