What is the EU Space Situational Awareness (SSA)?
The strategic importance of the EU Space Situational Awareness (SSA) lies in its role in ensuring the continuity and security of space-based services that are critical for Europe's economy, security, and infrastructure.
As reliance on satellite technology grows for communication, navigation, and earth observation, protecting this infrastructure from potential threats becomes increasingly important.
Overall, the EU Space Situational Awareness (SSA) initiative represents a crucial step toward maintaining Europe's autonomy and leadership in space, ensuring the safety of its space operations, and contributing to global efforts to manage space traffic and mitigate risks associated with space debris.
The primary purpose of the EU Space SSA is to enhance the safety of space operations and protect European space infrastructure, including satellites in orbit.
Key objectives of the EU Space Situational Awareness (SSA) include:
Detection and Tracking: Monitoring space debris and other objects that could potentially collide with satellites.
Collision Avoidance: Providing timely alerts to satellite operators to enable them to perform collision avoidance maneuvers.
Re-entry Analysis: Tracking objects that are re-entering the Earth's atmosphere to predict and mitigate any potential risks to people and property on the ground.
Fragmentation Analysis: Monitoring events that result in the creation of space debris, such as explosions or collisions in orbit.
SSA covers three areas:
Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST): A system of networked sensors to survey and track space objects, together with processing capabilities to provide data, information and services on objects that orbit the Earth. More than 190 organisations are receiving the SST services (Collision Avoidance, Re-entry Analysis and Fragmentation Analysis) through the EU SST Front Desk at EUSPA, and more than 400 satellites are safeguarded from the risk of collision.
Near-Earth Objects (NEO): Capabilities to monitor the risk of natural space objects approaching the Earth, such as asteroids and comets. By promoting networking among Member States’ facilities and research centres, this subcomponent supports the development of a routine rapid response service that can characterize newly detected NEOs.
Space Weather Events (SWE): The development of space weather models that result from the impact assessment of different scenarios based on new prediction capabilities leads to the establishment of a space weather service capable of identifying and addressing user needs.
Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and cybersecurity are increasingly intertwined as the complexity and connectivity of space assets grow. As satellite systems and other space infrastructure become integral to modern telecommunications, navigation, and data services, their protection against cyber threats is critical.
Regulation (EU) 2021/696 of 28 April 2021 establishing the Union Space Programme and the European Union Agency for the Space Programme
Article 2, Definitions
(6) ‘space situational awareness’ or ‘SSA’ means a holistic approach, including comprehensive knowledge and understanding, of the main space hazards, encompassing collision between space objects, fragmentation and re-entry of space objects into the atmosphere, space weather events, and near-Earth objects;
(7) ‘space surveillance and tracking system’ or ‘SST system’ means a network of ground-based and space-based sensors capable of surveying and tracking space objects, together with processing capabilities aiming to provide data, information and services on space objects that orbit around the Earth;
(8) ‘SST sensor’ means a device or a combination of devices, such as ground-based or space-based radars, lasers and telescopes, which is able to perform space surveillance or tracking and that can measure physical parameters related to space objects, such as size, location and velocity;
(9) ‘SST data’ means physical parameters of space objects, including space debris, acquired by SST sensors, or orbital parameters of space objects derived from SST sensors’ observations in the framework of the SST sub-component;
(10) ‘SST information’ means processed SST data which are readily meaningful to the recipient;
Article 3, Components of the Programme
1. The Programme shall consist of the following components:
(d) ‘Space Situational Awareness’ or ‘SSA’, which includes the following sub-components:
(i) ‘SST sub-component’, a space surveillance and tracking system aiming to improve, operate and provide data, information and services related to the surveillance and tracking of space objects that orbit the Earth;
(ii) ‘SWE sub-component’, observational parameters related to space weather events; and
(iii) ‘NEO sub-component’, the risk monitoring of near-Earth objects approaching the Earth;