Finnish Space Situational Awareness Center has started its work

It was decided to establish a National Space Situational Awareness Center (FSSAC) in Fin-land last autumn. The centre will reach full or round-the-clock operational readiness in 2027.

After a long wait, it was decided to establish a National Space Situational Awareness Center (FSSAC) in Finland last autumn. In its supplementary budget for the autumn, the Government granted funding to the center from the beginning of December 2024, when the establishment of the center began in earnest. It is expected to be fully operational in 2027. The Space Situation Centre maintains a space situational picture and distributes related expert information to national authorities and other domestic actors.

The Space Situation Center's Civilian Command Center AVATIKE (C-FSSAC) will be established in connection with the Finnish Meteorological Institute for civil society services, with the National Land Survey of Finland as a partner. The Finnish Defence Forces will establish its own center (M-FSSAC), which will focus on serving defence needs. Both command centers operate independently, but in close cooperation. The two centers will work in synergetic cooperation in such a way as to avoid duplication of activities.
 
“Full operational readiness means that the center operates around the clock and it has been ensured in case of a state of emergency”, says Professor Ari-Matti Harri, Director of the Space and Observation Technologies Unit at the Finnish Meteorological Institute. 

The work input of the Civilian Command Centre AVATIKE (C-FSSAC) of the Space Situation Centre is approximately four person-years, which consists of a part-time contribution of about ten employees. The employees are all experienced researchers in the space sector. 
 
Finnish Space Situational Awareness Center informs and warns the authorities of disruptions or dangerous situations caused by space or space activities. These can be caused by congested near space and space weather phenomena for critical satellite services and other functions of society. Direct threat situations may be caused by the parts of satellites and other space debris that strike the Earth, as well as asteroids and comets that arrive at times near the Earth.

 In fact, two systems will be created in connection with the Space Situational Awareness Center: one for the Defence Forces and one for the Civil Service in connection with the Finnish Meteorological Institute. “The Defence Forces have different goals, they want to know what the objects moving above us can do, what they want to do and do. The Defence Forces' system is to be ready by 2028,” Harri says.
 
The national benefits of establishing the Space Situational Awareness Center were examined by a steering group in winter 2022-2023, which included representatives from 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 for Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance. 

The aim of the steering group's work was to form a shared understanding of the establishment of a National Space Situational Awareness Center. The secretariat of the steering group was provided by the Finnish Meteorological Institute, supported by permanent experts from the National Land Survey of Finland and the Defence Forces appointed to the steering group. In its report, the steering group recommended the establishment of a Space Situational Awareness Center.
 

AVATIKE (C-FSSAC) is located at the Finnish Meteorological Institute

The Space Situational Awareness Center acts as the national contact point for the compilation of European space situation awareness data and works in close cooperation with the corresponding US organisation (NOAA, National Oceanic and Athmospheric Administration) and other international partners.
 

Near space

Society's everyday functions, such as telecommunications, remote sensing and positioning, monitoring of weather and the environment, air traffic and observation of neighbouring areas, which are important for security, require services based on satellite systems. The uninterrupted functioning of these services is threatened by various phenomena in outer space, such as disturbances in space weather and collisions between satellites and space debris.
 
There are many definitions of near space. In the Space Situational Awareness Center, near space means satellites and objects in Earth's orbit. This is when we talk about sites that move about 200-40,000 kilometres from Earth.

“Fairly often, near space refers to the so-called LEO orbit (Low Earth Orbit), which is about 200-2,000 kilometres from Earth. But we are also interested in the GEO orbit (Geostationary Earth Orbit). There are much fewer sites at a height of 35,000 kilometres, but they are important. For example, weather observation and communications satellites travel on the GEO orbit,” says Ari-Matti Harri.

Source: Ministry of Transport and Communications