EU Space Surveillance and Tracking, a network that helps satellite operators avoid collisions in orbit, marked 10 years of operations on Tuesday.
The service began on 1 July 2016, when five EU member states linked national sensors and processing systems to support spacecraft operators, the European Commission informed on Wednesday.
Nineteen member states are now part of the EU SST Partnership, up from five a decade ago.
More than 690 satellites are covered by the partnership and the SST Front Desk at the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), while more than 400 organisations inside and outside the EU use EU SST services.
Around 70 operational sensors — including national and commercial systems — contribute to the network from locations worldwide.
What the system does
EU SST provides three round-the-clock services free of charge: collision avoidance, re-entry analysis and fragmentation analysis, according to the statement.
Collision avoidance involves warnings and information that help operators reduce the risk of satellites striking other spacecraft or debris, while re-entry analysis relates to tracking and assessing objects returning through the atmosphere.
Fragmentation analysis concerns break-ups in orbit that can create additional debris.
The EU SST set-up includes three operations centres managed by France, Spain and Italy, with measurements, database and cataloguing managed by Germany, while EUSPA runs the SST Front Desk.
EU SST forms part of the Space Situational Awareness (SSA) element of the EU Space Programme and supports EU systems including Galileo, EGNOS and Copernicus, as well as GOVSATCOM and the future IRIS².
