Space situational awareness
The detection and cataloging capability for objects in orbit, whose resolution determines what an underwriter can actually measure of collision risk.
Space situational awareness covers the radars, telescopes and processing that detect, identify and track objects in orbit, to maintain a catalog and predict close approaches. Its practical limit is a size threshold. Objects of a few centimeters escape routine tracking although they carry more than enough energy to destroy a satellite: the catalog lists tens of thousands of objects, while statistical models estimate several hundred thousand. That gap is why collision risk is priced off an environment model rather than off observation. Governance adds its own difficulty. A large share of tracking data comes from military assets whose true accuracy is not public, so operators and their insurers depend on a source they cannot audit. The European Union has built its own civil framework, and the general trend is to hand the service to civil authorities, a precondition for the data ever serving as evidence in a claim.
By Decision No 541/2014/EU of April 16, 2014, the European Union established a space surveillance and tracking support framework. Member states pool their observation assets under it, and operators receive collision warning services.
SSA, space situational awareness, SST, space surveillance and tracking
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