Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to mitigate the risks posed by space debris to UK (a) satellites and (b) other space assets.

The government is committed to mitigating the risk from space debris through arange of actions, including regulatory reform, international collaboration on standards and best practice, and developing capabilities to prevent, track or remove space debris. The government recently awarded £4.7 million to Astroscale and ClearSpace to understand the risks and costs of an active debris removal mission. The UK also launched the National Space Operations Centre in May 2024, combining civil and military space domain awareness and protection capabilities. This includes uncontrolled re-entry early warning, fragmentation monitoring, in-space collision avoidance protection services and support to HMG and international partners.