{"id":17988,"date":"2022-02-09T08:15:38","date_gmt":"2022-02-09T08:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=17988"},"modified":"2022-08-11T15:55:37","modified_gmt":"2022-08-11T14:55:37","slug":"achieving-space-sustainability-space-situational-awareness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/achieving-space-sustainability-space-situational-awareness\/17988\/","title":{"rendered":"Achieving space sustainability with Space Situational Awareness"},"content":{"rendered":"
Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST) are an imperative global endeavour to ensure the safety and security of satellites and high value assets on orbit. Earth\u2019s resident space objects must be catalogued and tracked \u2013 without this capability, monitoring and supporting operations in space would not be possible. Additionally, SSA\/SST encompasses the non-trivial analysis and evaluation of key space events including re-entering objects, conjunction and collision avoidance activities, fragmentations of objects, satellite manoeuvre detection and compliance monitoring. These services are vital to space sustainability and operational risk mitigation. SSA\/SST is now increasingly being recognised as an essential discipline required to safeguard the longevity and maintenance of crucial space objects and space-based infrastructure to ensure we continue to benefit from the innovations generated from space operations.<\/p>\n
The success and safety of all space users is reliant on SSA\/SST. Government entities (both civil and military) need to maintain awareness of the space environment for security, regulatory, and sustainability reasons. Civilian requirements for SSA data often include regulation and compliance monitoring, maintaining critical national infrastructure, and upholding international regulation. Military SSA needs (often now referred to as Space Domain Awareness (SDA), although not clearly defined) can vary but typically revolve around maintaining awareness of the space environment and maintaining a tactical advantage to provide safe and secure space operations. The commercial space industry have a vested interest in SSA\/SST data and services, predominantly to maintain awareness of the on-orbit region around their own satellites and to maintain safety of flight for satellite owners and\/or operators. Furthermore, academia are largely focussed on advancing the R&D areas of SSA\/SST and have an interest in maintaining the long-term sustainability of outer space.<\/p>\n
Understanding Space Situational Awareness Founded in 2017, Northern Space and Security Limited (NORSS) is the only UK-based commercial company dedicated to SSA\/SDA, SST, and orbital analytics. An innovative SME located in Northeast England, its mission is to empower success through opportunities in outer space, supporting industry and academic use of space and helping governments to regulate space through unprecedented access to, and understanding of, data of space. The company\u2019s expertise results from a highly skilled team of people, along with several key personnel bringing more than 100 years of combined experience in SST\/SSA, across military and civilian sectors.<\/p>\n
NORSS operates its Orbital Analyst Hive, an SSA\/SDA centre of excellence, to ensure the long-term development of operational experience to meet sustainable orbital challenges. Investing in both the technical capability and developing highly qualified personnel is fundamental to the UK\u2019s only commercial analytical SSA cell. The significant experience of the team is built upon strong relationships between NORSS and key national and international partners. Its links across industry, academia, and government, both the civilian and military realms, enables the acquisition of vital data and information to add significant depth to services provided and supports rapid development of experience. Furthermore, NORSS also has extensive access to Space Policy and Law experience through its collaboration with Chris Newman, Professor of Space Law and Policy at Northumbria University. This includes the groundbreaking Space Law Games; an innovative three-year project to view significant space operation developments through the Space Law lens, highlighting future technical requirements for space traffic management.<\/p>\n
In respect of the legal position, existing international space treaties do not directly impose any legal requirements for countries to engage in SSA\/SST activity. Instead, the treaties deal with general principles, emphasising that space should be used for peaceful purposes and that countries are internationally responsible for national space activity, together with the space activity of its non-governmental (commercial) entities. International space law does not differentiate between different sizes of satellite, classifying them all as space objects. Where a state launches a space object which, through their fault, causes damage to another state\u2019s space object, the launching state will be internationally liable. However, gaining any redress for damage caused is unlikely, with state-to-state litigation being both expensive and slow.<\/p>\n
Additionally, establishing fault in space operations is not clear cut, with a lack of SSA\/SST information making any possible monitoring and enforcement mechanism difficult to administer. The responsibility of individual countries for the authorisation and continuing supervision of their national space activities does not stretch so far as to mandate continuous monitoring of all their registered space objects. National regulators can impose conditions on operators, such as ensuring the mitigation of future debris from smaller satellites but imposing conditions that are too onerous could lead to operators seeking authorisation from a different, more acquiescent national regulator. This divergence of regulatory requirements, and a reluctance of nations to cede authority to international bodies, means that an overarching, international regime for SSA\/SST is unlikely to be established in the near future.<\/p>\n