Advisory Committee on Excellence in Space (ACES)
The Advisory Committee on Excellence in Space (ACES) is a Federal advisory committee that provides advice and recommendations to the NOAA Under Secretary or the Director of the Office of Space Commerce (OSC) on matters relating to OSC’s statutory purview, including:
- Status and recent developments of nongovernmental space activities;
- The manner in which the United States may facilitate and promote a robust and innovative commercial sector that is investing in, developing, and operating space objects;
- Challenges faced by the United States commercial sector relating to:
- International obligations of the United States relevant to commercial space sector activities in outer space;
- Harmful interference with commercial space sector activities in outer space;
- Cybersecurity requirements, recommendations, or needs that affect the commercial space sector;
- Existing best practices for United States entities to avoid:
- The harmful contamination of the Moon and other celestial bodies;
- Adverse changes in the environment of the Earth resulting from the introduction of extraterrestrial matter; and
- Detrimental effects to the space environment resulting from new or existing space debris;
- Space sustainability;
- Other commercial space sector activities, as the Under Secretary or OSC Director considers appropriate.
ACES functions solely in an advisory capacity and in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). ACES does not exercise program management or regulatory development responsibilities nor make any decisions directly affecting the programs on which it provides advice.
Membership
ACES will have a fairly balanced membership consisting of no more than 25 members.
The membership should consist of a variety of space policy, engineering, technical, science, legal, and finance professionals with significant expertise in the commercial space industry. Members will be appointed by the Under Secretary or the OSC Director, generally for a term of two years.
As of March 14, 2024, OSC is planning to issue a Federal Register notice soliciting public nominations of candidates for ACES membership.
Designated Federal Officer
The Designated Federal Officer (DFO) for ACES is Jason Y. Kim, Chief of Staff, Office of Space Commerce.
Assistant DFOs are Joshua Brinson and Taliah Dunn.
Email: space.commerce@noaa.gov.
Charter
The current charter for ACES was signed March 4, 2024, with a validity of two years.
ACCRES
ACES was established in 2002 as the Advisory Committee on Commercial Remote Sensing (ACCRES), which advised the NOAA Under Secretary on remote sensing issues for over two decades. Secretary Gina Raimondo approved the rescoping of ACCRES as ACES in 2024.
Historic information about ACCRES is available on the website of NOAA/NESDIS, which hosted ACCRES before it was transferred to the Office of Space Commerce.