- Relevant projects in the Azores
- Management instruments
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SST — Space Surveillance and Tracking is a European programme aimed at ensuring Europe’s independence and sovereignty through its own capacity to monitor, characterise and track objects which, by travelling in orbits near the Earth, could pose a real danger to space infrastructure, space access and displacement missions and the security of citizens by entering the atmosphere.
The European SST consortium (EU SST) consists of seven countries, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Poland and Romania, in partnership with the European Union Satellite Centre — EU SatCen.
In Portugal, the managing body of the SST programme is the Directorate-General for National Defence Resources of the Ministry of National Defence and is part of the Portuguese SST group (SST PT), the Autonomous Region of the Azores, the Autonomous Region of Madeira and the Telecommunications Institute.
The Government of the Azores, through the Mission Structure of the Azores for Space (EMA-Space), is present in the European SST consortium through the participation of two members in the Steering Committee and the Technical Committee, as Portuguese delegates appointed to the consortium.
The Autonomous
Region of the Azores has contributed directly to the construction of Portuguese SST capacity by providing spaces and corresponding adjustments for the installation of the Centre for Spatial Operations (COPE) in the Science and Technology Park of the Island Terceira — TERINOV, as well as for the installation of optical sensors on Terceira and Santa Maria. In addition to these assets, the Portuguese SST network also has two optical sensors installed in Pico do Areeiro, Madeira and a Radar in Pampilhosa da Serra in Coimbra.
The optical sensor installed in Santa Maria, at the RAEGE complex, is operated by the Associação RAEGE Açores, which is also the entity responsible for the two technicians contracted to operate the Centre for Space Operations (COPE) in TERINOV.
The expansion of the COPE human resources team and the installation of an optical sensor on the island of Graciosa are also
expected.