United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM) has entered into an agreement with the Belgium Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO) to share space situational awareness (SSA) services and information, the Defense Department said Feb. 7.
The arrangement looks to enhance awareness within the space domain and increase the safety of spaceflight operations. It was signed by USSTRATCOM Director of Plans and Policy Air Force Maj. Gen. Clinton E. Crosier, on Feb. 7 at USSTRATCOM headquarters after Elke Sleurs, Belgium’s secretary of state for Science Policy, signed it on Jan. 31 in Brussels, Belgium.
The agreement adds Belgium to 11 other countries, two intergovernmental organizations, and over 50 commercial satellite owners/operators/launchers already participating in SSA data-sharing agreements with Strategic Command. The countries are the United Kingdom, South Korea, France, Canada, Italy, Japan, Israel, Spain, Germany, Australia, and the United Arab Emirates while the intergovernmental organizations are the European Space Agency and the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites.
SSA data-sharing agreements enhance multinational space cooperation and streamline the process for STRATCOM partners to request specific information gathered by the command’s Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Claif., Strategic Command said.
Such information “is 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,” STRATCOM said.
“For a country such as Belgium having implemented an advanced regulation for space activities, the support from USSTRATCOM is a precious instrument in achieving compliance with our international commitments, as well as a sustainable use of outer space,” Sleurs said in a statement.
Crosier highlighted that these kinds of agreements help strengthen U.S. alliances while increasing resiliency with space as a domain like air, land, and sea.
“We have worked hard over the last couple of years to make the case that we want space to be a domain that is available for everyone to use. But to do that we need to understand what is going in space and the best way to do that is through transparency – to share information,” Crosier said.