Raytheon NORSS to Provide Space Surveillance and Tracking Services for UK Space Agency

Raytheon NORSS, a space domain awareness specialist under RTX, has secured a contract to deliver Space Surveillance and Tracking Services Data (SST) for Resident Space Objects (RSO) in low-Earth orbit (LEO) to the UK Space Agency.

Under the terms of the contract, Raytheon NORSS will leverage its ground-based Low-Earth Orbit Camera Installation (LOCI) sensors, to gather observation data on objects in LEO. This includes monitoring space debris, defense assets, and commercial satellites. The collected data aims to enhance the UK's capability to monitor its sovereign space domain, ensuring the safety of assets in orbit by detecting potential dangers such as collisions or fragmentation events.

To provide a more comprehensive view of objects in LEO, Raytheon NORSS has expanded the international deployment of LOCI. The LOCI sensor network will be operated from multiple locations in the UK, U.S., and Australia.

This contract announcement follows the news that Raytheon NORSS, in collaboration with intandem, has been chosen to develop a 10-year strategy for the UK Space Agency's National Space Operations Centre (NSpOC). The NSpOC, scheduled to open in April 2024, aims to enable the UK to fulfill its space domain awareness responsibilities.