According to Indian space situational assessment report 2025, India’s satellites operated in an increasingly congested orbital environment in 2025, with over 0.15 million close approach alerts issued for Indian assets.
These alerts were generated by the Combined Space Operations Center (CSpOC) of USSPACECOM, reflecting a broader shift in global space activity. In total, around 0.16 million close approach alerts were recorded during the year, highlighting the growing frequency of potential collision risks.
The rise in congestion is largely driven by the rapid expansion of satellite constellations. On several occasions, single-day launches added more than 100 objects into orbit through rideshare missions or overlapping deployments, making coordination more complex and reducing warning times in some cases.
For ISRO, this has meant continuous tracking and frequent course corrections. Indian missions carried out 18 collision avoidance manoeuvres (CAMs) in 2025, including 14 in low Earth orbit and four in geosynchronous orbit.
The report pointed to an emerging shift, with active satellites likely to outnumber space debris within this decade due to planned constellation deployments. While this reflects increased utilisation of orbital space, it also raises the complexity of space traffic management as more objects operate in limited orbital corridors.
Globally, 2025 saw 315 successful launches placing 4,651 objects into orbit, a notable increase compared to 2024, which recorded 254 launches and 2,963 objects, and 2023, which saw 212 launches and 3,135 objects. Of the objects launched in 2025, 4,198 are operational satellites.
The report mentioned that although 1,911 objects re-entered the atmosphere during the year, the total number of objects in space continues to grow, raising concerns around long-term sustainability. The report also noted instances of debris surviving re-entry and landing in inhabited areas, though no casualties were reported. In one case, a Chinese spacecraft sustained window damage, likely due to a micrometeoroid impact, delaying the crew’s return.
India’s own space activity remained steady, with five launches from Sriharikota, one of which did not achieve its intended orbit. A total of eight Indian satellites were placed in orbit through both domestic and international launches.
Operational developments during the year included the controlled disposal of a navigation satellite into a graveyard orbit, as well as the continuation of deep-space missions such as Chandrayaan-2 and Aditya-L1.
To address future challenges, ISRO is strengthening indigenous tracking capabilities under Project Network for Space Object Tracking and Analysis and is working towards ensuring that all Indian satellites are equipped with de-orbit capabilities by 2030.
