SDA Finding its Niche

摘要

NASA recently agreed to use the services of the Space Data Association (SDA), an international cooperative among commercial satellite firms created to share information on spacecraft positions and broadcast frequencies to ensure smoother operations for all. To appreciate the significance of the agreement, consider it this way: NASA, the big government agency that has launched hundreds of space missions of all types, sent astronauts to the Moon and back, operates the international space station and recently began driving a 1-ton, nuclear-powered rover on the surface of Mars, is going to use the services of a nonprofit group whose members did not even exist when the agency was created.