Building Space Situational Awareness capability

Space Situational Awareness (SSA) is crucial for the safety of valuable space assets and the services provided by them. Some examples of these services are navigation, communication, broadcasting, environment protection, earth observation, meteorology and science. Due to the harsh space environment, debris, micrometeorites, number of satellites in orbit, the increasing number of actors in space, and the lack of means to protect or repair space assets makes Space Situational Awareness a key for reducing risk in space operations. After an introduction to the problem and a brief summary of the required infrastructure, this paper discusses the capabilities needed to overcome the challenges and to achieve Space Situational Awareness.