Europe’s space tracking program sees growing support, interest

The risks of in-space smash-ups is growing as Earth's orbit becomes more congested. (Image: European Union Space Surveillance and Tracking Consortium)

MAUI — With the future of the US Commerce Department’s Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS) in limbo, US and European industry officials here at the AMOS conference this week said the European Union is now poised to take the lead in setting policy, standards and licensing requirements for safety measures that satellite operators around the world.

While TraCSS could still work out long term, the officials told Breaking Defense that there is a growing interest in the EU’s dual-use space traffic management program, known as the EU Space Surveillance and Tracking Partnership (EU SST) .

According to one senior EU official involved in the effort, about 95 percent of European satellite operators already participate in the program’s data exchange and benefit from collision avoidance service. In addition, the EU’s draft law on space operations would require all companies operating satellites for European use to prove that they are participating.

EU SST officials have been exchanging information with the US Commerce and Defense Departments and working to ensure against conflict with the TraCSS program, with AMOS conference providing one regular venue, according to US and European officials. But the current uncertainty about the direction of the TraCSS program has those coordination efforts in flux.

Four new members — Belgium, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Luxembourg — joined the EU SST in June, according to the EU SST website, just a month before the program’s official 10th anniversary on July 1. The four new members bring the number of governments supporting the effort to 19, up from five when the program launched in 2016.

The other 15 supporting countries are Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sweden. The partnership group works in cooperation with the EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA) that manages collective union space programs.

As the EU SST effort and related industrial support schemes are funded by the contribution of partner nations, the EU’s overarching 2021-2027 budget, and other European financial institutes, it is difficult to track down exactly how much is being spent on what. The EU SST office does not publish an annual budget. However, European government and industry officials are expecting a jump in funding in the next 2028-2034 budget as European militaries become more interested in building sovereign space capabilities.

The EU SST program is specifically designed to monitor the heavens and provide warnings about potential on-orbit smash ups to European and other space operators, be they commercial, civil or military. According to the EU SST website, the service provides collision warnings, analyses of re-entry risks and information about dangerous space debris events such as satellite breakups.

The program relies on a network of some 70 radars and telescopes in the participating countries, most of which currently are owned by national militaries. The goal, however is to eventually reach a 50-50 balance of military/civil government sensors and commercial sensors, according to a senior European official involved.

At the moment, there are eight commercial providers of space situational awareness data to the EU SST network. According to industry sources, the total value of those contracts this year is about $700 million.

Further, European Union and the EU SST group are working to rapidly increase the number of European companies capable of building and operating sensors, generating space tracking data and providing services to satellite operators via a series of funding and co-funding schemes, according to EU and industry officials.

One example is a multi-tiered grant program embedded in the European Commission’s Horizon Europe program focused on future tech. In the Horizon workplan for 2026-2027, there are three types of grants available for space tracking tech development with a combined budget of about ￡55 million ($63 million).

The EU Industry and Start-ups Forum on Space Traffic Management brings together EU SST program officials with more than 100 commercial space tracking firms twice a year to look ahead at how to grow the network and support the industrial base. The most recent meeting was held in March.

The EU SST program is planning an official birthday celebration in October, according to the EU SST Partnership’s head.

“[W]e can proudly look back on what we have achieved: providing collision avoidance services to over 100 operators from 40 countries, building strong cooperation between 19 EU Member States, and fostering an innovative and competitive SSA industry in Europe. In our collective spirit, we have built a world class SSA system over the past decade,” Pascal Faucher, chair of the EU SST Partnership told Breaking Defense in an email.

“Now, looking forward, continuing to work hand in hand with Member States, EU institutions, and the industry, we are on the road to achieve our ultimate goal, strategic autonomy,” he added.

随着地球轨道日益拥挤，太空碰撞的风险也在增加。（图片：欧盟空间监视与跟踪联盟）

毛伊岛——由于美国商务部空间交通协调系统（TraCSS）的未来悬而未决，本周在AMOS会议上，美国和欧洲的行业官员表示，欧盟现在准备在制定政策、标准和许可要求方面发挥领导作用，以保障世界各地卫星运营商的安全措施。

尽管 TraCSS 仍有可能长期有效，但官员们告诉 Breaking Defense，人们对欧盟的双用途空间交通管理计划（即欧盟空间监视和跟踪伙伴关系 (EU SST)）越来越感兴趣。

据一位参与该项目的欧盟高级官员透露，约95%的欧洲卫星运营商已参与该项目的数据交换，并受益于防撞服务。此外，欧盟关于空间运行的法律草案将要求所有为欧洲运营卫星的公司证明其已参与该项目。

据美欧官员透露，欧盟超空间技术战略（SST）官员一直在与美国商务部和国防部交换信息，并努力避免与TraCSS项目发生冲突，AMOS会议为此提供了一个定期交流的平台。但目前TraCSS项目方向的不确定性使得这些协调工作处于不稳定状态。

据欧盟可持续贸易计划（EU SST）网站消息，比利时、保加利亚、立陶宛和卢森堡四个新成员于6月加入该计划，距离该计划7月1日正式成立10周年仅一个月之遥。这四个新成员使支持该计划的政府数量达到19个，而该计划于2016年启动时只有5个。

其他15个支持国分别是奥地利、捷克、丹麦、芬兰、法国、德国、希腊、意大利、拉脱维亚、荷兰、波兰、葡萄牙、罗马尼亚、西班牙和瑞典。该伙伴关系组织与欧盟空间计划署（EUSPA）合作，后者负责管理欧盟的集体空间计划。

由于欧盟太空科技计划及相关产业支持方案的资金来源包括伙伴国的捐款、欧盟2021-2027年总体预算以及其他欧洲金融机构的拨款，因此很难准确追踪资金的去向。欧盟太空科技办公室不公布年度预算。然而，随着欧洲各国军队对发展自主太空能力的兴趣日益浓厚，欧洲政府和行业官员预计，在下一个2028-2034年预算中，相关资金将大幅增长。

欧盟太空监测系统（EU SST）旨在监测太空活动，并向欧洲及其他地区的商业、民用或军用航天运营商提供潜在的在轨碰撞预警。根据欧盟太空监测系统网站的信息，该服务提供碰撞预警、再入风险分析以及有关危险太空碎片事件（例如卫星解体）的信息。

该项目依赖于参与国约70个雷达和望远镜组成的网络，其中大部分目前归各国军方所有。一位参与该项目的欧洲高级官员表示，最终目标是实现军用/民用政府传感器与商用传感器各占50%的比例。

目前，共有八家商业供应商向欧盟空间态势感知网络提供空间态势感知数据。据业内人士透露，今年这些合同的总价值约为7亿美元。

此外，据欧盟和行业官员称，欧盟和欧盟空间科学技术集团正在通过一系列资助和联合资助计划，努力迅速增加能够建造和运营传感器、生成空间跟踪数据并向卫星运营商提供服务的欧洲公司数量。

例如，欧盟委员会“地平线欧洲”计划中就包含一个多层级的资助项目，专注于未来科技。在“地平线”2026-2027年的工作计划中，有三种类型的资助项目可用于空间跟踪技术开发，总预算约为5500万英镑（6300万美元）。

欧盟空间交通管理产业与初创企业论坛每年两次汇聚欧盟超空间交通项目官员和100多家商业空间跟踪公司，共同探讨如何拓展网络并支持产业基础。最近一次会议于3月举行。

据欧盟超导科技伙伴关系负责人透露，欧盟超导科技计划计划于10月举行正式的周年庆典。

“我们可以自豪地回顾我们所取得的成就：为来自40个国家的100多家运营商提供防碰撞服务，在19个欧盟成员国之间建立起牢固的合作，并在欧洲培育出一个创新且具有竞争力的卫星防撞（SSA）产业。在过去十年中，我们本着共同努力的精神，打造了世界一流的卫星防撞系统。”欧盟卫星防撞系统伙伴关系主席帕斯卡尔·福歇在给《防务新闻》的电子邮件中表示。

“展望未来，我们将继续与成员国、欧盟机构和业界携手合作，朝着实现我们的最终目标——战略自主——迈进，”他补充道。