U.S. Strategic Command signed an agreement to share space information with Norway's Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries on Tuesday, according to the U.S. Air Force.

Air Force Maj. Gen. Clinton E. Crosier, STRATCOM's director of plans and policy, signed the memorandum of understanding to share space situational awareness services and information during a meeting with Royal Norwegian Air Force Col. Stig Nilsson at the 33rd Annual Space Symposium, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Nilsson is the Norwegian Ministry of Defense space program director.

Norwegian officials signed off on the agreement March 1 in Oslo, Norway. Signatories included Norwegian Army Maj. Gen. Odd-Harald Hagen, the Norwegian Ministry of Defense policy and long-term planning director general.

The agreement seeks to improve spaceflight safety, while also improving mutual awareness within the space domain. Shared information will enhance launch support capabilities, satellite maneuver planning and electromagnetic interference reporting and investigation, among other space-related operations.

"This situational space awareness memorandum of understanding is an important milestone for Norway's development as an active and responsible space nation in the High North and Arctic," said Hagen. "This represents a practical and symbolic evidence of the strong relationship and continuing development between our two nations," he added.

Norway joins 12 nations, two intergovernmental organizations and more than 60 commercial satellite companies sharing space situational awareness assets. This includes the European Space Agency and a number of its member countries, as well as South Korea, Canada, Japan, Israel, Australia and the United Arab Emirates.

"Besides defending this nation against all threats, we also have to protect the space environment so it is available to current and future generations everywhere," said Gen. John Hyten, the head of U.S. Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska. "One of the ways we do that is through space situational awareness — to understand what is going on in space — so that our space systems can continue to provide national, military, civil, scientific and economic benefits to the global community," he added.

Norway and other U.S. partners can request specific information gathered by STRATCOM's Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

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