NATO plans to set up new space centre amid China, Russia concerns

Around 2,000 satellites orbit the earth, over half operated by NATO countries, ensuring everything from mobile phone and banking services to weather forecasts

To a few of the locals, the top-secret, fenced-off installation on the hill is known as “the radar station”.
 

Some folks claim to have seen mysterious Russians in the area. Over the years, rumours have swirled that it might be a base for US nuclear warheads.
 

It's easy to see how the rumours start. The site is visually striking. Four huge white Kevlar balls sit like giant spherical spacecraft in a compound in the middle of open farm country 25 kilometres (16 miles) west of Belgium's capital, Brussels.
 

But the Kester Satellite Ground Station is both safer and more sophisticated