The Space Situational Awareness Centre will operate in a decentralised manner: a civilian command centre will be established at the Finnish Meteorological Institute in cooperation with the National Land Survey of Finland, and a military command centre will be established at the Finnish Defence Forces. Both command centres will operate independently but in close cooperation. The existing official duties and structures will be used in the implementation of the Centre.
Activities to establish the Centre will start in December 2024. It will become fully operational in 2028.
The Space Situational Awareness Centre will provide situational information about space to other authorities
The Space Situational Awareness Centre will monitor and forecast hazards and disturbances caused by the space environment so that preparations can be made and a response can be carried out to secure the functioning of society.
The everyday activities of society, such as telecommunications, remote sensing and positioning, weather and environmental monitoring, air traffic and the observation of nearby areas, which is important from the point of view of security, require services that depend on satellite systems. The uninterrupted operation of these services is threatened by various near-Earth space phenomena, such as space weather disturbances and collisions between satellites and space debris. In addition, space debris falling to Earth and near-Earth asteroids can cause hazards on Earth that will be anticipated and communicated by the Space Situational Awareness Centre.
‘At the moment, no authority in Finland is observing and monitoring disruptions and hazards in space and space operations in a coordinated manner. When the national Space Situational Awareness Centre is in operation, it will produce and distribute targeted space situation information to the Defence Forces, other authorities, companies critical to security of supply, universities, research institutes and citizens,’ says Ari-Matti Harri, head of research unit at the Finnish Meteorological Institute.
International cooperation is an integral part of the operations of the Space Situational Awareness Centre
The Space Situational Awareness Centre will start producing a situational overview of space in cooperation with the EU, Finland’s partner countries and international organisations responsible for space surveillance. The situational overview will be enhanced through other national observations and analyses and refined into services that will be distributed to various operators.
The Defence Forces produces a situational overview of space for military needs. This requires cooperation between both international partners and domestic operators. The national Space Situational Awareness Centre will efficiently combine the Defence Forces’ and civilian resources to develop national space situational awareness capabilities.
‘A situational overview of space is a key part of the Defence Forces’ situational awareness. The importance of space as a military operating environment has increased significantly, and it is in practice linked to the activities of each branch of defence and the establishments operating under the Defence Command. This requires a broad understanding of the significance of space, as well as new skills and capabilities in the future,’ says Juha-Pekka Keränen, Commander of the Finnish Air Force.
Cooperation with the EU’s space surveillance system will be an important part of the activities of the Space Situational Awareness Centre. Finland joined the EU’s SST (Space Surveillance and Tracking) consortium under the leadership of the Finnish Meteorological Institute and in partnership with the National Land Survey of Finland in the autumn of 2022.
‘The EU’s SST monitors objects in the near-Earth space, provides services for preventing collisions between satellites and space debris, and analyses and predicts the orbits and fragmentation of objects in the near-Earth space,’ says Hannu Koivula, director of department at the National Land Survey.
Finland’s national space situational awareness surveillance makes it possible to apply for research funding for space situational awareness from the EU and the European Space Agency. At the same time, new opportunities are created for business, research and the development of high-quality technology.
The steering group recommended the establishment of the Space Situational Awareness Centre
The national benefits of establishing the Space Situational Awareness Centre were examined in the winter 2022–2023 by a steering group that included representatives of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Ministry of Education and Culture, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance.
The goal of the steering group’s work was to form a common understanding between the ministries on the establishment of a national Space Situational Awareness Centre. The steering group’s secretaries came from the Finnish Meteorological Institute, and its work was supported by permanent experts appointed to the steering group from the National Land Survey and the Defence Forces. In its report, the steering group recommended the establishment of the Space Situational Awareness Centre.
Further information
The Finnish Meteorological Institute:
Professor Ari-Matti Harri, Head of Radar and Space Technology Research Unit, tel. +358 50 337 5623, ari-matti.harri@fmi.fi
Tiera Laitinen, PhD, Head of Space Weather Team, tel. +358 50 380 3279, tiera.laitinen@fmi.fi
Professor Jouni Pulliainen, Director of Space and Earth Observation Centre, tel. +358 50 589 5821, jouni.pulliainen@fmi.fi
National Land Survey of Finland:
Professor Hannu Koivula, Director of Department, tel. +358 50 430 1639, Hannu.Koivula@nls.fi
Jarkko Koskinen, Deputy Director General, tel. +358 50 337 2902, jarkko.koskinen@nls.fi
Defence Administration:
Kai Knape, Security Director, Ministry of Defence, tel. +358 295 16001, kai.knape@gov.fi