EU Space Surveillance and Tracking marks 10 years of operations: a decade of space safety and sustainability made in the EU
Today, the European Commission celebrates 10 years of EU Space Surveillance and Tracking (EU SST) operations, marking a major milestone for EU cooperation in space and a decade of concrete action to protect space assets and strengthen the EU’s strategic autonomy in space surveillance and tracking.
Ten years ago, on 1 July 2016, five Member States joined forces to network their national sensors and processing capabilities and began providing services to help spacecraft operators protect satellites from collisions in space. Since then, EU SST has grown significantly in capabilities, assets, membership and users, becoming one of the major actors in space safety and sustainability worldwide.
Today, 19 Member States are part of the EU SST Partnership, up from five at the start. Together with the EU SST Front Desk at EUSPA, EU SST now helps protect more than 700 satellites from collisions in space. More than 400 organisations, both within and outside the EU, rely on EU SST services, while around 70 operational sensors, both national and commercial, contribute from across the world to support safer space operations.
EU SST is a success story of EU cooperation. Its structure brings together three Operations Centres managed by France, Spain and Italy, measurements, database and cataloguing capabilities managed by Germany, the EU SST Front Desk managed by EUSPA, and a worldwide sensor network and processing capabilities managed by the Member States of the EU SST Partnership and complemented by the EU space surveillance industry. Together, they deliver three operational services – Collision Avoidance, Re-entry Analysis and Fragmentation Analysis – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, free of charge.
As part of the Space Situational Awareness component of the EU Space Programme, EU SST helps safeguard space assets, including EU Space Programme satellites such as Galileo, Copernicus and in the future IRIS² as well as the space assets of Member States and other operators. By using a network of ground-based sensors to survey and track space objects orbiting the Earth, EU SST helps reduce the risks linked to collisions, in-orbit fragmentations and uncontrolled re-entries into the Earth’s atmosphere.
The anniversary event taking place today in Brussels brings together EU entities, Member States, users, industry representatives and international partners to reflect on ten years of achievements and to look ahead to the future of EU SST. The programme highlights the development of EU SST as a civil programme with a dual dimension, its service to users, the vibrant EU space surveillance industry, and EU SST’s position as an internationally trusted partner.
The European Commission warmly thanks the EU SST Partnership, the EU SST Front Desk at EUSPA, participating Member States, service users, industry actors and the wider EU SST community for their commitment, expertise and excellent cooperation over the past ten years. This anniversary is not only a celebration of what has been achieved together; it is also a strong signal of the EU’s determination to continue investing in space safety, sustainability and autonomous capabilities in a rapidly evolving space environment.
With ten years of operations behind it, EU SST stands as a flagship example of what the EU can achieve through solidarity, innovation and shared ambition: 10 years of space safety and sustainability made in the EU.
More information
- Commission website on EU SST: EU Space Surveillance and Tracking - Defence Industry and Space
- EU SST website: EU SST - EU Space Surveillance and Tracking
- EUSPA website on EU SST : https://www.euspa.europa.eu/eu-space-programme/ssa/eu-sst
- Event website on 10 years anniversary event: 10 years of space safety and sustainability made in the EU | EU Space Policy
- Leaflet on EU SST 10 years of operations: 10 years of space safety and sustainability made in the EU - Publications Office of the EU