Space Operations in 2025
The year 2025 marked a significant milestone in space history with the highest number of launches since the dawn of the space age.
Launch and Operational Satellites
- There were a total of 328 launch attempts, with 315 successful launches resulting in the deployment of 4,198 operational satellites.
- The space object population saw a substantial increase with 4,651 new objects added in 2025.
- Compared to previous years:
- 2024 had 2,963 new objects from 254 launches.
- 2023 had 3,135 new objects from 212 launches.
Space Alerts and Collision Avoidance
- More than 1.5 lakh alerts issued for Indian satellites by the CSpOC of US Space Command.
- The Indian Space Situational Awareness Report (ISSAR) for 2025 highlights the congestion in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) with 1.6 lakh close approach alerts.
- ISRO reported:
- Four Collision Avoidance Manoeuvres (CAM) for Geostationary Orbit (GEO).
- Fourteen CAMs for Low Earth Orbit (LEO), including adjustments for the NISAR mission.
- Two CAMs were specifically for the Chandrayaan-2 mission.
Re-entry of Space Objects
- A total of 1,911 catalogued objects re-entered the atmosphere in 2025.
- The number of re-entries was less than in 2024 due to:
- Large-scale de-orbiting of Starlink satellites and more intense solar activity in 2024.
- Among the re-entered objects in 2025:
- 1,002 were known spacecraft.
- 657 were debris objects.
- 108 were rocket bodies.
- 144 were of unknown nature.
