S3T Surveillance Radar & Optical Fence (Space Surveillance & Tracking)

Indra Space (formerly Deimos Space) operates one of Europe’s most experienced space surveillance and tracking (SST) / space domain awareness (SDA) capabilities, combining the S3T Surveillance Radar (S3TSR) with a global network of optical telescopes to deliver persistent, highly accurate tracking data. S3TSR is a 13.2 m Cassegrain antenna operating in C-band (4-8 GHz) located at Moron Air Base, Spain, and constitutes Spain’s contribution to the EU Space Surveillance and Tracking (EUSST) initiative. This is complemented by the LEO Optical Fence, a real-time all-sky monitoring system, mobile plug-and-play optical platforms, and a dedicated Space Operations Centre providing dual-use (civil/defence) surveillance and tracking services. The optical sensor network spans Spain (including the Canary Islands), Portugal (Madeira and the Azores) and Chile, with a further site planned in Australia for 2026, giving 365-nights-per-year operational availability. The system delivers tracking accuracy better than one arcsecond, processes and delivers data in under 15 minutes, and can detect objects as small as 10 cm at 1,400 km range, tracking over 3,600 targets and generating roughly 120,000 measurements nightly across some 12,000 trajectories. Core services include collision-avoidance and re-entry alerts, object characterisation and cataloguing, space-weather monitoring, and near-Earth object tracking.