Indian Space Situational Awareness Report 2025 (ISSAR-2025)

Syllabus: GS3/Science & Technology; Space

Context

• Recently, the Indian Space Situational Awareness Report for 2025 (ISSAR-2025) was released by ISRO during the inaugural session of the 2nd international conference on Spacecraft Mission Operations (SMOPS-2026) at Bengaluru.

Key Findings of ISSAR-2025

• Rising Space Congestion: Around 1.6 lakh close approach alerts globally, with over 1.5 lakh alerts for Indian satellites.
  • Growth of mega-constellations (Starlink, Kuiper, etc.) likely to further increase collision risks.
• Collision Avoidance Measures (CAMs): Total CAMs for Indian satellites include 14 manoeuvres (including NISAR mission) in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), 4 manoeuvres in Geostationary Orbit (GEO), and 2 special adjustments for Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter.
  • Orbit manoeuvre optimisation used to avoid dedicated CAMs wherever possible.
  • It reflects growing dependence on Space Situational Awareness (SSA) systems.
• Record Space Activity in 2025: 328 launch attempts (highest ever), and 315 successful launches;
  • 4,198 operational satellites added; and total 4,651 new space objects added
  • These show exponential increase in space utilisation and commercialization.
• Atmospheric Re-entries: 1,911 objects re-entered Earth’s atmosphere in 2025 that include 1,002 spacecraft, 657 debris, 108 rocket bodies, and 144 unidentified.
  • It is lower than 2024 due to reduced de-orbiting, and lower solar activity.
• Growth of Satellite Constellations: Large constellations (e.g., Starlink, Kuiper) rapidly expanding. By the end of 2025, 9,396 Starlink satellites are still in orbit.
  • Active satellites may outnumber space debris, increasing coordination complexity.
• Solar Activity Impact: Peak of Solar Cycle 25 caused higher orbital decay rates, and increased early-year re-entries.

Indian Space Scenario

• Total 144 Indian spacecraft launched till 2025.
  • Operational satellites: 22 in LEO; and 31 in GEO
  • Active deep space missions: Chandrayaan-2 Orbiter; and Aditya-L1
• 5 launches from Sriharikota in 2025; NASA-ISRO (NISAR) successfully launched; PSLV-C61 failure (suborbital anomaly); SpaDeX mission demonstrated docking capability.

Implications for India and the World

• Increasing Space Traffic Management Needs: More satellites lead to higher collision probability, and active satellites may outnumber debris.
• Threat to Critical Infrastructure: Satellites support communication, navigation (NavIC), weather forecasting, and defence.
  • Any collision can disrupt essential services.
• Kessler Syndrome Risk: Increasing congestion may lead to space traffic management challenges and risk of Kessler Syndrome.
  • Cascade of collisions leading to unusable orbital zones.

India’s Response and Preparedness

• ISRO’s Space Situational Awareness (SSA) Initiatives: Network for Space Object Tracking and Analysis (NETRA) for continuous monitoring and risk mitigation.
  • ISRO System for Safe and Sustainable Space Operations Management (IS4OM) as nodal SSA body.
  • Indigenous radar & telescope systems under development.
  • Debris Free Space Mission (DFSM) target: debris-free missions by 2030
• Efficient Manoeuvre Planning: Adjusting routine orbit corrections to avoid separate Collision Avoidance Measures (CAMs); and optimizing fuel and mission life.
• ISRO engages with private actors, in synergy with the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), for handholding and experience sharing for best practices related to spaceflight safety.
• International Collaboration: Data sharing with global agencies (e.g., US Space Command)
  • India participates in Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC), and UN space sustainability initiatives
  • Coordination with international agencies for space safety

Source: TH