United States to Share Space Situational Data with European Organization

The U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, announced today it has entered into a new space situational awareness (SSA) data-sharing agreement with the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT). The agreement, which was signed August 9, provides EUMETSAT with higher quality and more timely space information tailored for its organization’s specific purposes in exchange for satellite-positional and radio-frequency information.

EUMETSAT joins five nations and many other organizations already participating in SSA data-sharing agreements with USSTRATCOM. “Space is vital to national security and economic growth, but it is increasingly congested, contested and competitive,” Adm. Cecil D. Haney, USN, USSTRATCOM commander, said in a written announcement. “As more countries, companies and organizations field space capabilities and benefit from the use of space systems, it is in our collective interest to act responsibly, to promote transparency and to enhance the long-term sustainability, stability, safety and security of the space joint operating area.”

Such agreements enhance multinational space cooperation and streamline the process for USSTRATCOM partners to request specific information gathered by its Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The information is considered crucial for launch support, satellite maneuver planning, support for on-orbit anomalies, electromagnetic interference reporting and investigation, satellite decommissioning activities and on-orbit conjunction assessments.

EUMETSAT is an intergovernmental organization, which supplies weather and climate-related satellite data, images and products to the national meteorological services of more than 30 European countries and other users worldwide.