In response to a question about the recent ASAT test by India producing a new debris field in LEO, Patrick Murphy, Director of Strategy, Planning, & Integration for NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate asked a question of the NASA director at the Town Hall with NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.
In his long answer, Director Bridenstine discussed not only details of what is currently known about the new debris field, but of the much messier 2007 direct ascent antisatellite missile test by China, including the following:
…and still we as a nation are responsible or doing space situation awareness and space traffic management and conjunction analysis for the entire world, and we’re doing it for free compliments of the taxpayer of the United States of America from an orbital debris field that was created by another country.
Why do we do that as a nation? Because it’s the right thing to do, because we want to preserve the space environment, and I know, I know why you asked the question Patrick. At the Space Technology Mission Directorate, you are responsible under Space Policy Directive 3, signed by the president of the United States, for the first time in American history, for building the technologies and the capabilities ultimately to ensure that we can track this kind of debris in the future at a better state than we can right now.
Question: What exactly is Space Policy Directive 3? What does it call for, and is it responsible for establishing the "Space Fence" that Bridenstine mentions almost immediately after this quote? I'd thought that the Space Fence was old news, and has been under construction for roughly a decade already.
