Decision No 541/2014/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 establishing a Framework for Space Surveillance and Tracking Support

• Published date: 27 May 2014
• Official Gazette Publication: Diario Oficial de la Unión Europea, L 158, 27 de mayo de 2014,Gazzetta ufficiale dell'Unione europea, L 158, 27 maggio 2014,Journal officiel de l'Union européenne, L 158, 27 mai 2014

02014D0541 — EN — 02.08.2018 — 001.001

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►B DECISION No 541/2014/EU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 16 April 2014 establishing a Framework for Space Surveillance and Tracking Support (OJ L 158 27.5.2014, p. 227)

Amended by:

		Official Journal
		No	page	date
►M1	REGULATION (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 18 July 2018	L 193	1	30.7.2018

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▼B

DECISION No 541/2014/EU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 16 April 2014

establishing a Framework for Space Surveillance and Tracking Support

Article 1

Establishment of the framework

This Decision establishes a space surveillance and tracking (SST) support framework.

Article 2

Definitions

For the purpose of this Decision, the following definitions apply:

(1) ‘Space object’ means any man-made object in outer space;

(2) ‘Spacecraft’ means any space object serving a specific purpose, including active artificial satellites and launcher upper stages;

(3) ‘Space debris’ means any space object including spacecraft or fragments and elements thereof in Earth's orbit or re-entering Earth's atmosphere, that are non-functional or no longer serve any specific purpose, including parts of rockets or artificial satellites, or inactive artificial satellites;

(4) ‘SST sensor’ means a device or a combination of devices, such as ground-based or space-based radars and telescopes, that is able to measure physical parameters related to space objects, such as size, location and speed;

(5) ‘SST data’ means physical parameters of space objects acquired by SST sensors or orbital parameters of space objects derived from SST sensors' observations;

(6) ‘SST information’ means processed SST data which is readily meaningful to the recipient.

Article 3

Objectives of the SST support framework

1. The general objective of the SST support framework is to contribute to ensuring the long-term availability of European and national space infrastructure, facilities and services which are essential for the safety and security of the economies, societies and citizens in Europe.

2. The specific objectives of the SST support framework are:

(a) assessing and reducing the risks to in-orbit operations of European spacecraft relating to collisions and enabling spacecraft operators to plan and carry out mitigation measures more efficiently;

(b) reducing the risks relating to the launch of European spacecraft;

(c) surveying uncontrolled re-entries of spacecraft or space debris into the Earth's atmosphere and providing more accurate and efficient early warnings with the aim of reducing the potential risks to the safety of Union citizens and mitigating potential damage to terrestrial infrastructure;

(d) seeking to prevent the proliferation of space debris.

Article 4

Actions supported by the SST support framework

1. To attain the objectives laid down in Article 3, the SST support framework shall support the following actions which aim to establish a SST capability at European level and with an appropriate level of European autonomy:

(a) the establishment and operation of a sensor function consisting of a network of Member State ground-based and/or space-based sensors, including national sensors developed through ESA, to survey and track space objects and to produce a database thereof;

(b) the establishment and operation of a processing function to process and analyse the SST data at national level to produce SST information and services for transmission to the SST service provision function;

(c) the setting up of a function to provide SST services as defined in Article 5(1) to the entities referred to in Article 5(2).

2. The SST support framework shall not cover the development of new SST sensors.

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3. Funding programmes established by Regulations (EU) No 377/2014 and (EU) No 1285/2013 and by Decision 2013/743/EU may contribute to the financing of the actions referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, within the scope of those programmes and in conformity with their aims and objectives. Such contributions shall be spent in compliance with Regulation (EU) No 377/2014. The...