ESA ESEC

ESEC is at the heart of ESA’s cyber security in Europe

ESEC is the Security Cyber Centre of Excellence (SCCoE) for the Agency and the Cyber Safety and Security Operations Centre (C-SOC) that will shortly provide the cyber resilience capability of the Agency. Both elements of the ESA Cyber Security Backbone called to play a pivotal role in the future development of ESEC within its ecosystem.

ESEC will have a cybersecurity centre (ECSC) that meets the strictest standards (processing of classified information - up to the secret level). The solutions developed will offer state-of-the-art cybersecurity, capable of guaranteeing the protection of equipment, data, and services.

ESEC is home to ESA's Proba mission control centres, the Space Weather Data Centre, as well as part of ESA’s ground station network. The existing Smallsat Operations at ESEC continue and new projects use the existing infrastructure and know-how, providing an overall service, including the space-security and space-safety aspects (Altius and Hera).

The anchoring of GNSS related operations at ESEC, augmented with operations and activities related to new and future initiatives, such as: quantum key distribution (Int-QKD), the European quantum communication infrastructure (EuroQCI) remains important target.

The centre has been operational since 1 January 1968 (ESRO) and occupies an area of 33 000 square meters. The ESEC site is established under the Hosting Agreement between ESA and the Government of Belgium.

One Centre, two sites

ESEC consists of two adjacent sites:

• The ESEC site in Redu, just outside the village, is hosting (among others) part of the ESA Cyber Security Backbone, the European GNSS related infrastructure and activities, the ESA Space Weather Data Centre, the ESA Proba infrastructure, and activities. The site is fenced and guarded 24/7 with full access control and surveillance.

• The ESEC-Galaxia site in Transinne (6 km from ESEC site in Redu) where the Education activities are deployed. The Galaxia Business Park at Transinne hosts a business centre dedicated to space activities. Situated side to side to the Euro Space Centre (Space-themed attraction park), the infrastructure hosts the ESA Business Incubation Centre (ESA BIC) and the ESA Education – Training Centre. Next to this (and independent from ESA activities), Galaxia also hosts the EUSPA Galileo Integrated Logistic Support Centre (GILSC).

ESEC activities in details

ESEC steerable antennas

ESEC provides S-band links for ESA’s network of ground stations, as well as in-orbit testing (IOT) for telecommunication and navigation satellites for which hosts all the facilities used to test the Galileo signal. The site hosts numerous steerable antennas operating in a variety of frequency bands (S, Ku, Ka, L, C bands). The largest antennas are Galileo IOT L-band (20 m) and Estrack S-band (15 m).

ESA-ESEC cyber security backbone

Whilst witnessing a shift of security elements that were purely in the realm of defence towards a broadly accepted civilian use, it is the aim, next to the space Cyber Security activities, to bring other space-security related applications in the scope of critical space infrastructure for society.

Space domain is a key pillar for the economy, for the security and for the daily life of European citizens. Such importance needs to be preserved by protecting space assets and applications from deliberate security attack or malicious actions, which could detriment or destroy the service, with potential catastrophic consequence for the users and for the image of ESA.

The C-SOC, together with the other ESA security capabilities, ensure the cybersecurity and resilience of space and corporate mission operational functions. The C-SOC and the Security Cyber Centre of Excellence will work in synergy with the ESOC Network Operations Centre (NOC) and ESA’s Computer and Communications Emergency Response Team (ESACERT) at ESRIN to create ESA’s cybersecurity backbone, providing a unique capability in Europe.

ESA-ESEC Cyber Security Centre (ECSC)

The ESEC Cyber Security Centre (ECSC) will be the central prime cyber hub, located at ESEC, establishing a state-of-the-art high-security infrastructure which is to host the C-SOC for its classified operational activities, the associated server farm, and the centralized management of all ESEC Classified Sub-Registries and COMSEC Accounts.

ECSC provides operational monitoring facilities, incident monitoring installations and a validation/vulnerability/analysis facility, in a doubled and mirrored set-up, which allows for independent 3rd party use in full respect of all required need-to-know compartmentalization. The contemporary infrastructure aims to combine synergy, security, and sustainability.

By bringing together the core cyber security and site security governance elements the synergy aspect is achieved. The facility, set-up as a full encompassing ESA Security Zone 5 provides a highly secured environment, meeting the most stringent international standards.

By locating the infrastructure in a submerged way in the sloping, southern part of the ESEC grounds, undeniable advantages in terms of landscape integration, with maximal respect for the natural surroundings. This approach provides in parallel optimized thermal inertia, maintainability, and sustainability.

ESEC Education activities

As an integral part of the ESA Education Programme, the ESA Education Training Centre is hosted at ESEC-Galaxia. The Education Training Centre annually hosts an average of 700 university students, 600 primary/secondary school teachers and about 150 trainers coming from all ESA directorates, academia and industry.

Infrastructures include:

• The Training and Learning Facility, consisting of a training room and an educational Concurrent Design Facility (CDF) where university students attend 4 to 5 day training sessions, complementary to their academic education; such as space systems engineering, space mission design, space law; spacecraft operations, business development and entrepreneurship.
• The CubeSat Support Facility, consisting of a cleanroom equipped with an electrodynamic shaker, a thermal vacuum chamber and additional test equipment where students participating in the Fly Your Satellite! programme are guided in the construction and testing of their small satellites, and can follow hands-on demonstrations of satellite integration and testing.
• The e-Technology Lab workshops make use of a range of educational technology tools within the context of space to enable participating teachers to engage and inspire their students in STEM subjects. Teachers also learn how they can make use of these educational tools to participate in ESA classroom projects with their students.