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.

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 of Commerce Gina Raimondo approved the rescoping of ACCRES as ACES in 2024.