According to ISRO’s ‘Indian Space Situational Awareness Report-2025’, India had to exercise great vigilance in 2025 to keep its satellites safe. In 2025, more than one and a half lakh close approach alerts were issued for ISRO’s satellites. These alerts were received from the US Space Command, which were analyzed by Indian scientists with more accurate orbital data. These figures clearly indicate that Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) has now become dangerously crowded. To avoid the dangers of space debris colliding with each other, ISRO had to perform a total of 18 ‘Collision Avoidance Maneuvers’, of which 14 were for LEO satellites and 4 were for GEO satellites. In these maneuvers, potential collisions are avoided by changing the satellite’s speed and altitude. Concern: 16 Orbit Maneuvers for Chandrayaan-2 in 2025 Even considering future risks, ISRO had to change its orbit maneuver planning 84 times. For Chandrayaan-2’s orbiter in deep space, the plan was changed 2 times to avoid collision with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. For Chandrayaan-2 alone, 16 orbit maneuvers were performed in 2025. ISRO conducted collision avoidance analysis before lift-off for all its 5 launches in 2025. In one case, the launch of LVM3-M6 mission had to be delayed by 41 seconds to ensure distance from debris. Threat from 40,000 debris larger than 10 centimeters According to ISSAR 2025 and WEF 2026 reports, space is becoming a ‘trash bin’. According to research, there are 40,000 pieces of debris larger than 10 centimeters and approximately 1.2 million pieces of debris larger than 1 centimeter present in space. In 2025, there were 328 launch attempts which deployed 4,198 satellites and added a total of 4,651 new space objects. Space debris is moving at a speed of 28,000 km/hour. Even a small screw can destroy a satellite. How other countries are protecting satellites America: Real-time tracking of 40 thousand debris pieces with advanced radar networks and sensors. European Space Agency: State-of-the-art collision avoidance software. China: Massive ground-based telescopes and ‘on-orbit refueling’ technology that moves satellites from one orbit to another in space. Japan: Experimenting with technologies like magnetic and electric tethers in collaboration with private companies to pull debris back into Earth’s atmosphere.
