Space traffic management - such as it exists - is at a turning point. Miniature electronics coupled with low-cost launch options are prompting companies to devise constellations of hundreds of satellites. "We have three mega-constellations that all want to be at 1,200 kilometers and they all want to be at different inclinations," said Edward Swallow, senior vice president for the Aerospace Corp.'s civil systems group, which is working with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to study space traffic. "Just one of these mega-constellations is expected to have 2,000 to 3,000 conjunction warnings per day, of which eight to ten are within 100 meters and two to three are within 50 meters."
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