European Union Satellite Centre (SatCen)

The EU Satellite Centre supports the decision making and actions of the European Union in the field of Common
Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), in particular Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), including European
Union crisis management missions and operations, by providing products and services resulting from the exploitation
of relevant space assets and collateral data, including satellite imagery and aerial imagery, and related services.
SatCen is a decentralised agency of the EU working under the supervision of the Political and Security Committee
and the operational direction of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
SatCen cooperates with national and international institutions in the field of space. It works closely with the
European Defence Agency, the European Commission, the European Space Agency and the Group on Earth
Observations (GEO), as well as other institutions and international organisations.
SatCen acts as the operator of the Copernicus Security Service in Support to EU External Action and it supports the
service provision for the Copernicus Border Surveillance Service. SatCen is also contributing to the European Space
Situational Awareness (SSA) / Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST) service provision function.
Research and Innovation activities within SatCen assess the use of new technologies and the development of new
solutions to keep at state of the art the operational capabilities of SatCen. To this aim, SatCen participates in
different projects and initiatives at Global and European level, related to Earth Observation Systems, Sensors and
Data, leveraging forefront technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Big Data.