Belgium, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Luxembourg have received approval from the European Commission to join the EU Space Surveillance and Tracking (EU SST) Partnership.
The EU SST Partnership helps safeguard over 600 satellites by coordinating the monitoring of space objects and sharing information about potential collisions, fragmentations and uncontrolled re-entries, the European Commission said on Friday.
The Partnership currently consists of 15 EU member states, which pool their resources and expertise to track satellites and space debris around Earth.
In late 2024, the four new countries submitted applications to join the Partnership. Their eligibility was confirmed in September 2025, and a step-by-step procedure for admitting new members was outlined by the Commission in June.
New space safety members
EU SST is part of the EU Space Programme under its Space Situational Awareness (SSA) category, which aims to protect key satellites such as Galileo, EGNOS, Copernicus, GOVSATCOM, and in future, IRIS², the Commission stated. T
he system relies on a network of sensors on the ground to track, survey and analyse objects in orbit.
This data is used to warn of possible collisions and to monitor debris re-entries into the Earth's atmosphere.
Following the approval, the next steps for Belgium, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Luxembourg will include signing the official partnership agreements, as well as a planned extension of funding for EU SST activities until mid-2028.
The contributions from the four countries are expected to strengthen the Partnership’s surveillance capabilities and sustain space safety efforts.
