Onboard space awareness through EDF BODYGUARD

Vimotek is participating in BODYGUARD — Autonomous SSA Bodyguard Onboard Satellite, a European Defence Fund research project focused on strengthening the ability of spacecraft to understand and respond to threats in their immediate environment.

Selected under the EDF 2023 call for threat surveillance and protection of space assets, BODYGUARD brings together twelve organisations from eight European countries. The consortium is coordinated by Agenium Space in France, with Vimotek participating from Sweden.

The project marks Vimotek's first participation in the European Defence Fund and strengthens the company's involvement in European efforts around space security, situational awareness and the resilience of critical space assets.

Bringing awareness onboard

Most space situational awareness has traditionally depended heavily on information gathered and processed away from the spacecraft itself.

BODYGUARD is exploring a complementary approach: developing building blocks for autonomous space situational awareness capabilities onboard satellites.

According to the European Commission, the project is intended to advance onboard threat detection, assessment and monitoring, together with technologies supporting the protection and resilience of space assets.

Bringing more of this capability onto the spacecraft could allow space assets to build a more immediate understanding of nearby activity and reduce dependence on information arriving exclusively through external systems.

For operators, the underlying challenge is increasingly important: when another object behaves unexpectedly nearby, understanding what is happening is a prerequisite for assessing its significance and preparing an informed response.

A European research effort

BODYGUARD is a 36-month research project with an estimated total cost and maximum EU contribution of approximately €6.48 million. Its activities cover knowledge generation, studies and design.

The consortium spans organisations in France, Greece, Luxembourg, Belgium, Finland, Latvia, Denmark and Sweden. Participants include companies and research organisations working across space systems, robotics, sensing, photonics and situational awareness.

The project was selected as part of the European Defence Fund's 2023 programme.

Vimotek's contribution

Vimotek participates in BODYGUARD as the Swedish consortium member, contributing experience from technologies related to spacecraft proximity, onboard sensing and perception.

The project sits closely alongside a problem that has become central to Vimotek's work: proximity events in which another spacecraft or object becomes operationally relevant without the operator initiating or controlling the encounter.

In these situations, earlier detection, better characterisation of nearby-object behaviour and faster assessment can contribute to stronger mission and asset resilience.

BODYGUARD therefore provides a European research context in which Vimotek can contribute to the development of technologies for understanding what is happening around a spacecraft when proximity becomes operationally significant.

Strengthening European space resilience

Europe's dependence on space-based infrastructure continues to increase, making the ability to understand and protect assets in orbit strategically important.

The European Commission describes BODYGUARD as contributing to greater European independence in space through onboard capabilities for threat awareness, protection and resilience.

For Vimotek, participation connects the company's work on spacecraft encounters with a broader European effort to develop trusted, sovereign capabilities for increasingly complex and security-sensitive operations in orbit.