Space Situational Awareness (SSA)
Europe’s eyes on space
SSA in a nutshell
With our everyday activities relying more and more on space-based services, economies, citizens, and public policies here on Earth increasingly depend on services and data in and from space.
The Space Situational Awareness (SSA) component of the EU Space Programme is Europe’s eyes on space: It provides knowledge about space hazards like collisions, fragmentations, re-entering objects, solar storms, and approaching space rocks. With this knowledge, the EU supports the uninterrupted functioning of space-based services and thereby supports the safety of European economies, societies and citizens who rely on space-based communication, navigation and observation services every day.
Space Situational Awareness subcomponents
Space rocks such as comets and asteroids approach the Earth and enter the Earth’s atmosphere regularly. The EU supports activities that help to study and track those space rocks to better understand possible risks.
Geomagnetic storms and solar flares can harm satellite electronics in space and impact electricity grids on Earth. Understanding the effects of space weather is key to mitigate the risks associated with them.
The SST subcomponent protects satellites from collisions in space, monitors their re-entries into Earth’s atmosphere, and assesses in-orbit fragmentations