Space Safety Programme

The Space Safety Programme (S2P), formerly known as the Space Situational Awareness (SSA) programme, is an important project led by the European Space Agency (ESA). Its goal is to watch for dangers from space, figure out how risky they are, share this information, and reduce the threat when possible.

The programme looks at three main areas: space weather forecasting and nowcasting, which means predicting changes in the Sun and solar wind that can affect Earth; asteroid impact prediction and prevention, to make sure we know about any space rocks that might come too close to our planet; and space debris mitigation, which involves dealing with old pieces of satellites and other objects floating in space that could hit working satellites or spacecraft.

S2P is run as an optional programme by the ESA, and money for it comes from 14 Member States. This work helps keep both people and technology safe by making sure we are prepared for possible space dangers.

History

The Space Safety Programme started in 2009 and went on until 2019. From 2013 to 2016, it got €46.5 million to help with its work. At first, it focused on giving quick and correct information about space dangers to keep both space and ground equipment safe. In 2019, the programme grew to include missions to lower and stop space dangers.

In 2025, ESA members met and agreed to give €955 million for the programme over the next three years. This was 30% more than asked for and covered all the plans. That same year, the International Astronomical Union agreed to name 10 asteroids after people and places linked to ESA's planetary defense projects.

Structure

The Space Safety Programme has three main parts and six smaller areas to handle different jobs.

The first part, called Space Weather, watches the Sun and Earth's air to keep people and machines in space safe. A new mission named Vigil will help watch the Sun from far away to give early warnings.

The second part, called Planetary Defence, looks for rocks from space, like asteroids and comets, that might hit Earth. It uses telescopes to track these objects and see if they are dangerous. In 2024, a mission named Hera was launched to study the effects of hitting an asteroid, after a test done by NASA in 2022. More missions are being planned to watch and protect against these space rocks.

The third part, called ADRIOS, works on removing old pieces of space junk and fixing satellites while they are in space. It also tracks space junk to help avoid crashes and plans ways to keep space clean for the future.

The smaller areas help these tasks by improving weather watching in space, building new tools to track space traffic, and creating technologies to keep space tidy and safe. New telescopes and missions are being built to watch the sky for dangers and test ways to clean up space.

Space missions

See also: List of European Space Agency programmes and missions

2020s

• Hera, launched October 2024 – a European probe to study an asteroid impact created by NASA's DART mission.
• Draco, launching in 2027 – a small space capsule to watch a satellite break apart as it returns to Earth.
• SWING, launching in 2027 – a mission to watch the ionosphere.
• PRELUDE, launching in 2027 – a test of space moves and navigation for cleaning up space junk.
• Ramses, launching in April 2028 – a trip to the near-Earth asteroid Apophis.
• ClearSpace-1, launching in 2028 – a test to clean up space debris.
• SAWA, launching in 2028 – a mission to watch the thermosphere.
• CREAM in-orbit demonstration, launching in 2028 – a test to avoid crashes in space.
• Optimist, launching in 2028 – a test to track tiny bits of space debris.
• RISE, launching in 2029 – a test to help fix satellites in space.

2030s

• Aurora-D & Aurora-C, first launch planned for 2030 – satellites to watch the Auroral lights.
• SAILOR, launch planned for 2030 – space debris monitoring satellites using solar sail foils.
• Visdoms-S, launch planned for 2030 – watching space debris with a telescope.
• Satis, launch planned for 2030 – a cubesat trip to an asteroid.
• CAT (CApTure Payload Bay), launch planned for 2030 – a joint ESA-AEE test to remove satellites.
• Erase, launch planned for 2030 – a mission to remove a large satellite.
• Vigil, launch planned for 2031 – a space weather mission to the Sun-Earth Lagrange point L₅.
• Ecostars, launch planned for 2031 – a test of eco-friendly space technology.
• Circular Economy I, launch planned for 2031 – a mission to fix and reuse satellites in space.
• LEMO demonstrator, launch planned for 2032 – a mission to watch space junk near the Moon.
• Precision Asteroid Nudging, launch planned for 2032 – a test to move asteroids with beams.
• Sword, launch planned for 2032 – two satellites to watch Earth's radiation belts.
• NEOMIR, launch planned for 2030s – a space telescope to find asteroids at the Sun-Earth Lagrange point L₁.
• Shield, launch planned for 2030s – a mission to give warning of big space storms.
• Encore, launch planned for 2030s – a mission to make satellites last longer.

Former SSA programme (2009–2019)

The Space Safety Programme, called the Space Situational Awareness programme before, started in 2009 and ended in 2019. It was made by the European Space Agency (ESA) to watch for dangers from space. Its job was to find threats from space, decide how risky they are, share this information, and try to make things safer when possible.