China tells its AI leaders to avoid US visit: Report

The Trump administration this week fired employees who were building a system to manage satellite traffic in space, weakening a badly needed effort championed by the US space industry and the president's first administration, according to people familiar with the move.

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WASHINGTON:

Roughly, a third of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) 25-person Office of Space Commerce, a little-known body relied heavily upon by the space industry, were given a few hours' notice of their termination on Thursday by acting NOAA chief Nancy Hann and were forced out of the office by the end of the day, two of the sources said.

Their termination, the sources said, threatens to undermine efforts to complete what is essentially an air traffic coordination system for space, currently operating in a trial phase as growing global demand for crucial satellite services sharply increases the number of spacecraft in Earth's orbit.