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 with the right people, and when possible, reduce the threat.

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 began in 2009 and continued until 2019. During 2013–2016, it received €46.5 million to support its work. Originally, it focused on giving timely and accurate information about space dangers to protect both space and ground equipment. In 2019, it became the Space Safety Programme with an expanded focus, including missions to reduce and prevent space dangers.

In 2025, at a meeting of ESA members, they agreed to provide €955 million for the programme over the next three years, which was 30% more than requested. This funding covered all the plans in the proposal. Also in 2025, the International Astronomical Union approved naming 10 asteroids after people and places linked to ESA's planetary defense projects.

Structure

The Space Safety Programme is divided into three main parts and six smaller areas to manage different tasks.

The first part, called Space Weather, watches the Sun and Earth's atmosphere to protect people and machines in space. 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 figure out if they are dangerous. In 2024, a mission named Hera was launched to study the effects of hitting an asteroid, following 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 collisions and plans ways to keep space clean for the future.

The smaller areas support these tasks by improving weather watching in space, building new tools to track space traffic, and developing 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 – European asteroid probe aimed at studying the effects of an impact created by NASA's DART mission using 65803 Didymos's moon (Dimorphos) as a target
• Draco, launching in 2027 – small space capsule monitoring the breakup and demise processes of a re-entering satellite
• SWING, launching in 2027 – ionosphere monitoring mission
• PRELUDE, launching in 2027 – in-orbit demonstration of space manoeuvres and relative navigation technologies for active debris removal
• Ramses, launching in April 2028 – mission to the near-Earth asteroid Apophis
• ClearSpace-1, launching in 2028 – space debris removal demonstration mission, superseded the cancelled e.Deorbit
• SAWA, launching in 2028 – thermosphere monitoring mission
• CREAM in-orbit demonstration, launching in 2028 – automated collision avoidance demonstration mission
• Optimist, launching in 2028 – registering tiny space debris test
• RISE, launching in 2029 – in-orbit servicing demonstration mission

2030s

• Aurora-D & Aurora-C, first launch planned for 2030 – a demonstrator satellite and a satellite constellation for Auroral oval monitoring
• SAILOR, launch planned for 2030 – space debris monitoring satellites using solar sail-like foils as impact detectors
• Visdoms-S, launch planned for 2030 – optical observation of space debris
• Satis, launch planned for 2030 – cubesat mission to an asteroid
• CAT (CApTure Payload Bay), launch planned for 2030 – joint ESA-AEE mission to test a standardised docking interface for satellite removal
• Erase, launch planned for 2030 – removal of a large satellite
• Vigil, launch planned for 2031 – space weather mission to the Sun-Earth Lagrange point L₅
• Ecostars, launch planned for 2031 – Ecodesign technologies test
• Circular Economy I, launch planned for 2031 – in-orbit refurbishment mission
• LEMO demonstrator, launch planned for 2032 – cis-lunar debris monitoring mission
• Precision Asteroid Nudging, launch planned for 2032 – ion-beam asteroid deflection test
• Sword, launch planned for 2032 – two satellites in GTO-like orbit monitoring Earth's radiation belts
• NEOMIR, launch planned for 2030s – asteroid-detecting space telescope in the Sun-Earth Lagrange point L₁
• Shield, launch planned for 2030s – CME advanced warning mission
• Encore, launch planned for 2030s – mission life extension

Former SSA programme (2009–2019)

The Space Safety Programme, known before as the Space Situational Awareness programme, started in 2009 and continued until 2019. This programme was created by the European Space Agency (ESA) to watch for dangers from space. Its job was to see what threats might come from space, figure out how risky they are, share this information with the right people, and try to reduce the danger when possible.