Europe’s space tracking program sees growing support, interest

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.