Terms and conditions
Monitor Space Hazards is a platform through which UK-licensed commercial satellite operators and approved UK and international government users can receive SST information as part of a service from the NSpOC. The platform and associated SST services are still under development and will undergo further testing and validation during the service lifecycle. Satellite operators should not rely solely on Monitor Space Hazards as a source of SST information.
In these terms and conditions of use, unless the context otherwise requires, capitalised expressions shall have the meanings set out below.
Terms and Abbreviations
| Term | Definition | |
|---|---|---|
| Administrators | The User who is the main point of contact for each Organisation and who, amongst other things, is responsible for User registration and de-registration to Monitor Space Hazards | |
| CAM | Collision Avoidance Manoeuvre | |
| CDMs | Conjunction Data Messages | |
| Confidential Information | "Confidential Information" means any information, disclosed by one party to another in any way that is designated as being confidential (whether or not marked as "confidential") or which ought reasonably to be considered confidential | |
| Conjunction | A “Conjunction” is a close approach of two or more space objects | |
| Conjunction Event | A “Conjunction Event” is the situation that may trigger a set of analyses which may produce information related to a single conjunction | |
| Conjunction Alert | A “Conjunction Alert” is a “Conjunction Event” that exceeds established risk thresholds for the Probability of Collision and requires approved government users to be notified | |
| Conjunction Report | A “Conjunction Report“ is a report generated by the NSpOC and uploaded to Monitor Space Hazards that provides detailed information on a “Conjunction Alert” to approved government employees | |
| HIE | High Interest Event defined by NSpOC as a close approach detected by the NSpOC when any catalogued RSO has a perceived risk greater than 0.1% of colliding with a UK-licensed object | |
| Intellectual Property Rights | Patents, trade marks, service marks, design rights (whether registrable or not), applications for any of those rights, copyright, database rights, trade or business names and other similar rights or obligations, whether registrable or not, in any country, including, but not limited to, the United Kingdom | |
| Manoeuvre Trade Space Plot | A plot that displays how a range of manoeuvres would impact the expected event collision probability given a manoeuvre strength and time | |
| Monitor Space Hazards | The platform through which UK-licensed satellite operators and approved UK and international government users can receive SST information as part of a service from the NSpOC | |
| NSpOC | National Space Operations Centre | |
| OEM | Orbital Ephemeris Message | |
| Organisation | A body which operates satellites licensed by the Secretary of State for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology or a government body that is approved to access the platform | |
| Party or Parties | Refers to any given Party or all Parties involved in this agreement, including the NSpOC, Users and Organisations | |
| Personal Data | Means any information which are related to an identified or identifiable natural person as under Article 4(1) UK GDPR | |
| PoC | Probability of Collision | |
| Re-entry Event | A “Re-entry Event” is the return of a space object into the Earth’s atmosphere | |
| Re-entry Alert | A “Re-entry Alert” is a “Re-entry Event” that meets established alerting criteria and requires approved government users to be notified | |
| Re-entry Report | A “Re-entry Report“ is a report generated by the NSpOC and uploaded to Monitor Space Hazards that provides detailed information on a “Re-entry Alert” to approved government employees | |
| RSO | Resident Space Object | |
| Service | The services supplied by NSpOC via the Monitor Space Hazards platform to the Organisation and Users, as set out in clause 2 of these Terms and Conditions of Use, as covered by the Space Industry Act 2018 | |
| Specified Satellite | The satellite(s) registered to an Organisation for which a User from that Organisation has chosen to receive notifications through Monitor Space Hazards | |
| SST | Space Surveillance and Tracking | |
| TCA | Time of Closest Approach | |
| TIP Message | Tracking and Impact Prediction Message | |
| Track conjunction events (Monitor your satellites) | The service through which UK-licensed satellite operators and approved government employees can receive SST information on satellite conjunction events as part of a service from the NSpOC | |
| Track re-entry events | The service through which approved UK and international government employees and agencies can receive SST information on re-entering objects as part of a service from the NSpOC | |
| UK GDPR | Means Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016, on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (General Data Protection Regulation) (United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation), as it forms part of the law of England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland by virtue of section 3 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (refer to section 205(4)) | |
| UKSA | UK Space Agency or any successor organisation | |
| UKSpOC | UK Space Operations Centre | |
| User | Employees and/or approved subcontractors of the Organisation, who have access to Monitor Space Hazards |
General
The NSpOC reserves the right to change or modify these Terms and Conditions of Use at any time, and without prior notification and will distribute new Terms and Conditions of Use for Users to agree to before any further use of the Service.
The Services shall be provided to Users free of charge. Users will be notified in advance and new Terms and Conditions will be issued if this changes.
The NSpOC shall supply the Services as set out in clause 3 to Organisations and Users. The process for onboarding Users may change due to the ongoing development of Monitor Space Hazards.
Organisations must have a Space Situational Awareness Data Sharing Agreement with US Space Command in place for the duration of the services in order to access Monitor Space Hazards. Organisations, and therefore users of those organisations, may have any access to Monitor Space Hazards refused or revoked without notice at any time if such an agreement is not in place at any point during the Services, subject to the clause below.
The above clause will not apply if the organisation is able to provide evidence to the satisfaction of the NSpOC that the organisation is in the process of obtaining a Space Situational Awareness Data Sharing Agreement with US Space Command for the remainder or duration of the Services.
Users
Use of this Service is limited to
- Employees and approved subcontractors of organisations that operate satellites licensed by the Secretary of State for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
- UK and International government employees and agencies that have been approved to access the Service by the NSpOC.
Each Organisation must have an Administrator who will act as a primary contact with the NSpOC, and who will agree to these Terms and Conditions of Use on behalf of their Organisation. The Administrator warrants and represents that they have authority to enter these Terms and Conditions of Use on behalf of their Organisation.
Each Administrator is responsible for creating log-in details for Users within their Organisation and ensuring that Users have their access to Monitor Space Hazards removed if they leave the Organisation or no longer require access.
Organisations, Administrators or Users deemed, by the NSpOC, to have breached these Terms and Conditions of Use may have their access to the Service revoked, without notice, at any time.
Services
Track conjunction events (Monitor your satellites) reports information through the online platform when a HIE is detected involving a User’s Specified Satellites.
When a HIE is detected, Track conjunction events (Monitor your satellites) will report the following information via the online platform:
- Identity of secondary object;
- TCA;
- PoC sourced from NSpOC;
- PoC sourced from Space-Track;
- Total miss-distance;
- Radial miss-distance;
- Event history;
- Altitude/longitude/latitude, impact velocity and number of fragments;
- Sources of information used in NSpOC analysis;
- Techniques used by the NSpOC to calculate probability of collision; and
- Manoeuvre Trade Space Plot.
Additional analysis will be provided by NSpOC orbital analysts only in relation to events that NSpOC analysis determines breach a probability of collision ≥ 1e-3.The NSpOC may provide additional analysis in other circumstances at its discretion.
A recent history of events involving Users’ Specified Satellites will be stored in Monitor Space Hazards.
Users can choose to receive information about Conjunction Events involving all UK-licensed satellites registered to their Organisation or selected UK-licensed satellites registered to their Organisation. These selected satellites will be the User’s Specified Satellites.
Users can opt-in to receive a notification by email and/or SMS when a HIE involving one of their Specified Satellites is detected, when information about a HIE is updated, and when a Conjunction Event is no longer deemed to be a HIE.
Users can set additional thresholds for when they receive notifications based on PoC, miss-distance and time to event.
Manoeuvre support is provided via the Manoeuvre Trade Space Plot and shows Users how a manoeuvre of various strengths (by change of velocity), performed at varying time intervals, would likely impact the collision probability of the event. Users must ultimately decide if a manoeuvre is required, when to manoeuvre or the size of manoeuvre.
Certain Government Users will have access to Conjunction Alerts generated when a Conjunction Event exceeds a certain risk and probability of collision threshold. These Users can select whether to receive all Conjunction Alerts, or only priority Conjunction Alerts, and also select to receive notifications by email and/or SMS.
Track re-entry events generates reports and alerts through the online platform when a Re-entry Event poses a risk to the UK or UK interests.
When a Re-entry Alert is detected, Track re-entry events will report the following information via the online platform:
- Identity of re-entering object;
- Risk to the UK;
- Probability of re-entry over the UK;
- UK overflight time (UTC);
- Re-entry time window worldwide (UTC);
- Expected survivability to the ground;
- Licensing country;
- Probability of re-entry by UK region and overseas territory;
- Object mass;
- Sources of information used in NSpOC analysis;
- Techniques used by the NSpOC to calculate re-entry probabilities; and
- Re-entry event history.
Re-entry reports may be updated with additional or new information by the NSpOC once reports have been generated and are live.
Users can choose to receive information about all Re-entry Alerts or only priority Re-entry Alerts, or only Re-entry Alerts involving UK satellites. Users are further able to select their areas of interest for Re-entry Alerts.
Users can choose to receive notifications by email and/or SMS when a Re-entry Alert is generated, when information on a Re-entry report is updated, and when a Re-entry Alert has passed.
The NSpOC reserves the right to amend the Services offered if:
- it is necessary to comply with any applicable law or regulatory requirement, or
- the amendment will not materially affect the nature or quality of the Services: in either such event the NSpOC shall notify Administrators within 10 working days following the changes.
The NSpOC reserves the right to amend the Services and add new functions to Monitor Space Hazards due to the ongoing development of the platform. In any such event the NSpOC shall notify Administrators within 10 working days following the changes.
Users must provide the NSpOC with such information and materials as the NSpOC may reasonably require in order to supply the Services, and use reasonable endeavours to ensure that such information is complete and accurate in all material respects.
The Services shall commence on agreement to these Terms and Conditions of Use by the User, and on the condition that the Organisation has agreed to these Terms and Conditions of Use.
Information from Monitor Space Hazards
The information available is in part based on information retrieved from www.space-track.org and https://discosweb.esoc.esa.int. Information may be supplemented with additional data and analysis. Calculated PoC may vary from predictions issued by other SST providers.
The NSpOC remains the owner of all information provided through Monitor Space Hazards, subject to the Intellectual Property Rights of those from whom our data is derived.
Users agree not to disclose, transfer, lease, sell or lend any information received from Monitor Space Hazards to any other entity at any time without prior written approval from the NSpOC.
Users agree not to share publicly any information received from Monitor Space Hazards without prior written approval from the NSpOC.
All information and reports provided through Monitor Space Hazards will have the Government Security Classification ‘Official’. Users agree to handle this information in line with the relevant guidance.
If Users download reports from Monitor Space Hazards, they agree not to create any product or service substantially similar to them or copy any ideas, characteristics or functions derived from them.
All Intellectual Property Rights in or arising out of or in connection with Monitor Space Hazards Services (other than Intellectual Property Rights in any materials provided by the User) shall be owned by the NSpOC.
Information from Users
Users can submit information through the Monitor Space Hazards online platform including ephemeris data relating to their satellites in OEM format, by email or through the online platform.
- OEM files submitted through Monitor Space Hazards will not be retained routinely for more than 30 days. Such files may be retained longer if they are connected to an incident, in which case users will be informed as soon as reasonably practicable.
By using these features, Users agree to authorise the NSpOC to generate SST information and services for the Users of Monitor Space Hazards based on information they have provided.
If Users submit information through Monitor Space Hazards, the NSpOC is not obligated to use this to conduct further analysis or produce further SST information.
Monitor Space Hazards uses essential cookies in order for the service to work. Analytics cookies are used to understand how the service is used and to make improvements. Users can see the cookies that are set and adjust preferences via the cookie policy.
Confidentiality
Each Party undertakes that it shall not at any time disclose to any person any Confidential Information concerning:
- information received by the User from Monitor Space Hazards;
- ephemeris data or other information submitted by Users; or
- analysis derived from Users’ ephemeris data, including that received from a third party: except as permitted by clause 6.2, 6.3 or with prior written approval from the other Party who owns the Confidential Information.
Each Party may disclose the other Party's Confidential Information:
- to its employees, officers, representatives, contractors, subcontractors or advisers who need to know such information for the purposes of exercising the Party's rights or carrying out its obligations under or in connection with these Terms and Conditions. Each Party shall ensure that its employees, officers, representatives, contractors, subcontractors or advisers to whom it discloses the other Party's Confidential Information comply with this clause; and
- as may be required by law, a court of competent jurisdiction or any governmental or regulatory authority, provided that the Party whose information is disclosed is given not less than two (2) business days’ prior notice of such disclosure by the other Party.
The NSpOC may disclose Users’ Confidential Information to other HM Government affiliated entities.
Where OEM files are shared, affiliated entities will also have a responsibility to comply with data retention requirements.
No Party shall use any other Party's Confidential Information for any purpose other than to exercise its rights and perform its obligations under or in connection with these Terms and Conditions.
Contact with the National Space Operations Centre
Users can contact the NSpOC by email or through the Monitor Space Hazards platform.
- General correspondence and support emails should be sent to: monitorspacehazards@ukspaceagency.gov.uk.
- Enquiries relating to specific Conjunction Events should be sent via the ‘Contact a NSpOC orbital analyst’ feature in the Conjunction Event summary page on the Monitor Space Hazards platform.
- Enquiries relating to specific Re-entry Events or Re-entry Alerts should be sent via the ‘Contact the National Space Operations Centre for more information’ feature in the Re-entry Event or Re-entry Alert summary page on the Monitor Space Hazards platform.
Communications will be monitored Monday to Sunday, 0800-1600 UK time. Analysts will make reasonable efforts to provide a timely response, but this is not guaranteed in busier periods.
Users are encouraged to submit information regarding a planned or actioned CAM, however, NSpOC orbital analysts will NOT provide advice in relation to potential CAMs.
Users may contact the NSpOC to request further information regarding a specific Conjunction Event or Conjunction Alert. NSpOC orbital analysts may decide but are not obligated to obtain or provide more information regarding a Conjunction Event or Conjunction Alert (e.g., by tasking sensors). This will be based on the particular details of the Conjunction Event or Conjunction Alert and other priorities.
NSpOC orbital analysts may use contact details provided by Users to contact them regarding a Conjunction Event or Conjunction Alert.
Users may contact the NSpOC to request further information regarding a specific Re-entry Event or Re-entry Alert. NSpOC orbital analysts may decide but are not obligated to obtain or provide more information regarding a Re-entry Event or Re-entry Alert (e.g., by tasking sensors). This will be based on the particular details of the Re-entry Event or Re-entry Alert and other priorities.
NSpOC orbital analysts may use contact details provided by Users to contact them regarding a Re-entry Event or Re-entry Alert.
Liability
NSpOC shall not be held liable for any costs, damage or loss, whether direct or indirect, howsoever caused, including but not limited to costs, damages, or losses relating to the following situations:
- the lack of or interruption in the provision of Monitor Space Hazards;
- any delay in the provision of information from Monitor Space Hazards;
- any inaccuracy of the information provided through Monitor Space Hazards; or
- any action undertaken in response to the provision of information through Monitor Space Hazards.
HM Government affiliated entities and subcontractors will also not be liable either in the above mentioned situations.
Users shall have no liability towards the NSpOC, any HM Government affiliated entity, or any third party in relation to its authorised use of the Monitor Space Hazards service.
Personal data
Users must provide their name, email address and phone number and keep this up to date in the Monitor Space Hazards online platform. Administrators will have responsibility for keeping account user records up to date.
Users’ personal data may be used for the following:
- to keep a record of agreement;
- to set up accounts and to enable Users to log in via the ‘Auth0’ 3rd party authentication service https://auth0.com;
- if they opt-in to receive notifications in relation to Conjunction Events/Alerts and/or Re-entry Events/Alerts;
- to notify them of any changes to the service; or
- if a NSpOC orbital analyst needs to contact a User regarding a Conjunction Event/Alert or a Re-entry Event/Alert.
The NSpOC reserves the right to use Personal Data to contact Users in the event of an emergency.
All personal data will be processed by the NSpOC or its subcontractors in accordance with the Monitor Space Hazards Privacy Notice in Appendix A hereto.
Cessation of services
Administrators must inform the NSpOC if their Organisation no longer wishes to access Monitor Space Hazards.
Administrators must inform the NSpOC if their Organisation ceases to operate UK-licensed satellites. Access to Monitor Space Hazards will be removed from the date when the Organisation ceases to operate UK-licensed satellites.
The NSpOC reserves the right to terminate the provision of these Services at its complete discretion including, but not limited to, in the event of a breach of these terms by a User or their representative.
Law
These Terms and Conditions of Use shall be governed and construed in accordance with English law. The Parties agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.