“About 95 percent of European satellite operators already participate in the program’s data exchange and benefit from collision avoidance service.”
TraCSS uncertainty and transatlantic coordination
With the future of the U.S. Commerce Department’s Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS) described as “in limbo,” U.S. and European industry officials at the AMOS conference in Maui said the European Union is positioned to take a leading role in setting policy, standards and licensing requirements for safety measures used by satellite operators worldwide. EU SST officials have been exchanging information with the U.S. Commerce and Defense Departments and using recurring venues such as AMOS to coordinate, but officials told Breaking Defense that the current uncertainty about TraCSS has those coordination efforts in flux.
EU SST’s network, services, and membership growth
The EU Space Surveillance and Tracking Partnership (EU SST) is designed to monitor on-orbit activity and provide warnings about potential collisions, re-entry risks and dangerous debris events including satellite breakups. According to the EU SST website and officials cited by Breaking Defense, the service now provides collision avoidance services to over 100 operators from 40 countries. Four countries—Belgium, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Luxembourg—joined the partnership in June, bringing the tally of supporting governments 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.
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End the scrambleSensors and the industrial base: 70 radars and a commercial pivot
The EU SST relies on a distributed network of roughly 70 radars and telescopes located across participating countries. Most of those sensors are currently owned by national militaries, although a senior European official involved in the program described a goal of reaching a 50/50 balance between military/civil government sensors and commercial sensors over time. At present eight commercial providers supply space situational awareness data to the EU SST network; industry sources told Breaking Defense that the total value of those contracts this year is about $700 million.
Funding mechanisms and planned increases
Funding for EU SST and related industrial support comes from partner-nation contributions, the EU’s 2021–2027 budget and other European financial institutions. The EU SST office does not publish an annual budget, and officials and industry expect a jump in funding in the 2028–2034 budget cycle as European militaries show more interest in building sovereign space capabilities. The European Commission’s Horizon Europe program includes a multi-tiered grant effort for space-tracking technology: the Horizon workplan for 2026–2027 lists three types of grants with a combined budget of about £55 million ($63 million) aimed at expanding European sensor and data capabilities.
What this means for satellite operators, European militaries, and commercial sensor firms
- Satellite operators (commercial, civil, and military): Operators already participating—about 95 percent of European operators—receive collision avoidance services today; the EU’s draft law on space operations would require companies operating satellites “for European use” to prove participation, potentially formalizing that practice.
- European militaries and member states: Most sensors are currently military-owned, and member-state contributions underpin the partnership; officials anticipate increased military interest in sovereign capabilities and higher funding in the 2028–2034 EU budget cycle.
- Commercial space-tracking firms: The EU is actively growing its commercial supplier base through funding and co-funding schemes and via forums such as the EU Industry and Start-ups Forum on Space Traffic Management, which convenes EU SST officials with more than 100 commercial space-tracking firms twice a year (the most recent meeting was held in March).
Pascal Faucher, chair of the EU SST Partnership, summarized the program’s decade of work in an email to Breaking Defense: “[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.” He added, “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.”
The EU SST marks its 10th anniversary—officially on July 1—and is planning an official birthday celebration in October. As TraCSS’s trajectory remains uncertain, the EU program’s expanding membership, growing commercial contract values and focused grant funding place it at the center of a shifting global conversation about who sets the rules and runs the systems that warn operators when orbit turns dangerous.
Source: Breaking Defense — Europe’s space tracking program sees growing support, interest
