The European Agency for the Space Program (EUSPA) recently marked the one year anniversary of its take-over of EU Space Surveillance and Tracking (EU SST) Front Desk operations.
First established in 2014, EU SST services have been part of the EU Space Program since 2021. SST is a key means of protecting space infrastructure and services against in-orbit collisions and other disruptions.
The SST Front Desk is the interface for the provision of SST services, currently providing coverage for more than 480 satellites, including the European Union’s 23 usable Galileo navigation satellites, orbiting at about 23,000 kilometers, and three EGNOS augmentation satellites in geosynchronous equatorial orbit. Readers will remember that EUSPA is also the body responsible for Galileo and EGNOS operations.
SST Front Desk activities are managed from the Galileo Security Monitoring Centre (GSMC) in San Martín de la Vega, Spain, where EUSPA operates and maintains the online SST Portal. Tasks include responding to service requests and monitoring system performance, providing support to users and promoting user uptake through a variety of communications activities.
The EU SST boasts three main capabilities: sensing, processing and service provision. Sensing capabilities are delivered via a network of radar facilities, telescopes and laser ranging stations. These survey and track space objects in all orbital regimes: LEO, MEO, HEO and GEO. Services are provided upon request to all EU Member States, EU institutions, spacecraft owners and operators, and other public and private entities.
A year in figures
Since EUSPA took over the Front Desk in July 2023, the EU SST user community has grown significantly. The 480 registered assets include satellites operated by non-EU entities and more than 200 organizations. Of the cited number, 83 have been added since July 2023.
Also during that period, more than 21,700 EU SST products were delivered to users, comprising collision avoidance, re-entry analysis and fragmentation analysis services. More than 800 user service requests have been handled, including all manner of SST-related enquiries.
EUSPA’s Front Desk can provide vital and rapid services when necessary. In its first year in charge, EUSPA has coordinated four activations of the EU SST Taskforce for critical events response, including for the monitoring of the re-entry of space object ISS DEB (EP BATTERY) and providing support to ESA’s Aeolus assisted re-entry into the atmosphere. The agency believes the ensemble of SST Front Desk services contribute in a concrete way to the long-term sustainability of the space economy, by safeguarding crucial satellite-based positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) physical assets services.
