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The purpose of this paper is to describe the current knowledge management activities at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC), specifically in knowledge capture, sharing and preservation and focusing on the developed and adopted methods and on the results obtained related to the process of knowledge capture using video‐recording of experts.

The knowledge management activities undertaken at ESOC during the past years have been organized into four phases: preliminary study and investigation on knowledge management systems including a review of already existing initiatives; a pilot project within the Flight Dynamics area (a key technical domain within ESOC taking care of the orbit and attitude aspects for the satellite operations) with respect to the questions of knowledge transfer and its barriers; the definition of the ESOC knowledge management system; and the introduction of knowledge capture procedures.

The inventory of the knowledge assets and the analysis of the knowledge coverage and criticality were essential to be able to identify the existing knowledge in specific areas and to perform a gap analysis. Through this analysis, it is now possible to identify those areas requiring improvement and to allow management to make reliable decisions for which areas the knowledge level should be increased.

With regard to the firm strategic behaviours, it seems particularly crucial to exploit all three dimensions of proximity, in order to guarantee openness and sustain innovativeness and competitiveness. Concerning policy implications, the local governments should address their actions to help and promote the openness of technology districts and the formation of technology clusters. With this aim, actions should be devoted also to sustain single local firms that are part of a technology cluster but not of a technology district. These, in fact, by increasing their competitive position, may generate positive externalities in the local area, fostering the diffusion and sharing of knowledge in the area and then, acting as knowledge gatekeepers for the whole area.

The paper describes the implementation strategy of the knowledge management within ESOC. Based on this practical experience, guidelines can be derived for the implementation of a more general knowledge management system in the aerospace industry.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the initiative set up at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) to investigate how knowledge management principles could offer solutions, while adapting to a world where technology and innovative processes are rapidly changing.

The paper investigates the challenges of implementing a corporate knowledge management system in ESOC, where currently the knowledge is managed in several different ways. The driver of the knowledge management initiative has been the need for developing a system able to locate intellectual capital and technical expertise.

The paper has identified the following main items to be considered in support of the ESOC knowledge management initiative: need for a consistent set of documentation, maintained under configuration control and regularly updated to reflect actual status; formation of cross‐support functional teams; usage of a Centralized ESTRACK Status and Diagnostic System (CESADS) as a supervisory/diagnostic tool for the ground operations; and need for knowledge management evolution.

Although just at the starting‐point, the needs and the benefits of the above points have been acknowledged at ESOC to guarantee reliable and efficient execution of the responsibilities of the Centre. The points raised are expected to be of interest to space industry planners, executives and researchers.