[Updated 2200UTC 2024 Apr 22]
Possible AAS statement on transparency in cislunar and interplanetary spaceflight activities

The AAS believes that spaceflight activities in cislunar and
interplanetary space should be conducted in an open way, to promote situational
awareness, to reduce the risks of misunderstanding and mutual
interference between missions, and to avoid interference with
observations of natural objects including observations of potentially
hazardous asteroids.

We note that:

(1) there is currently no requirement for space operators to
publicly report trajectory details for objects placed on Earth escape, Lagrange,
or cislunar trajectories  (hereafter, 'deep space objects');  

(2) there have been numerous examples
of such objects being discovered serendipitously by astronomers and
accidentally (albeit temporarily) misclassified as  near-earth asteroids;

(3) UN Resolution 1721B and the Registration Convention require the provision
of orbital parameters in UN filings, but this requirement has been largely
ignored in the case of deep space objects; and

(4) the publicly available orbital data provided from tracking by the US Space Force 
is not available for deep space objects, and is largely restricted to objects within
100,000 km of the Earth;

(5) current US rules allow for disposal of LEO upper stages to a heliocentric trajectory
without any notice being given of the trajectory used;

(6) the techniques for tracking distant objects are in general similar to those
used by astronomers for asteroid studies, rather than the military radar-based techniques 
used for low Earth orbit satellites;

(7) the increasing level of activity in deep space includes missions from many
different countries and from commercial operators, in contrast to the situation
in prior decades in which deep space was almost entirely the province of NASA, ESA and 
the USSR/Russia, and therefore will require increasing governance and coordination.

(8) despite the suggestions made by some US officials in restricting publication
of observations obtained by government funded astronomical surveys, there are no
classified US spacecraft at altitudes beyond 100,000 km, and therefore no reason
to be sensitive about publishing data on objects at that distance; and

(9) there is absolutely no evidence, despite the suggestions made by
some US military leaders to justify military involvement in monitoring
deep space activities,  that Chinese activities in cislunar space and
beyond have any kind of potential military agenda, 

We therefore believe that:

(A) The US government should require US entities placing objects (including inert
objects and upper stages) on cislunar, Lagrange or Earth escape
trajectories (including planetary and asteroid missions)
to publicly report the trajectory of those objects (last known trajectory in the
case of abandoned objects). This trajectory information could be in the
form of orbital elements (geocentric, heliocentric, selenocentric, etc.) 
or a state vector, in a specified coordinate system.

(B) This trajectory information should be collated in a public repository operated by a civilian
entity. The existing JPL Horizons site is one example basis for such a repository.

(C) The US should advocate for the peaceful exploration, settlement and commercial use
of deep space with appropriate concern for the protection of the space environment.
Notably, this includes the protection of dark and quiet skies and of scientific activities,
and especially the electromagnetic environment on and near the Moon in order to protect
its potential for radio astronomy.

(D) In the spirit of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, the US should avoid
actions or rhetoric that could lead to explicitly military activities in
deep space, while supporting the participation of military agencies in
non-military activities such as scientific missions.

(E) It is vital that deep space situational awareness be performed on an international
basis, preferably with the US component led by a civilian entity (e.g. such as the Dept. of Commerce) and not
by the DoD, and should be carried out in collaboration with the astronomical community.