India’s latest Space Situational Awareness report underscores the growing complexity of orbital operations and the Indian Space Research Organisation’s expanding role in global space traffic management.

The agency revealed that it had executed 18 collision avoidance manoeuvres across its satellite fleet, including critical interventions involving NISAR and Chandrayaan-2. These actions were taken after analysing more than 1,50,000 conjunction alerts issued by the Combined Space Operations Center under USSPACECOM, with ISRO using precise orbital data from flight dynamics to identify credible threats.

Out of the total manoeuvres, 14 were carried out in Low Earth Orbit, including one involving NISAR, which NASA classified as a “Risk Mitigation Manoeuvre.” Four manoeuvres were executed in the Geostationary Orbit regime, with ISRO integrating collision avoidance actions into routine orbit maintenance wherever possible to conserve fuel and minimise operational disruption.

Beyond Earth orbit, ISRO also addressed conjunction risks in deep space, notably with Chandrayaan-2.

The Chandrayaan-2 orbiter required two specific adjustments in 2025, on 1 January and 24 July, to avoid potential close approaches with NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. In total, 16 orbit manoeuvres were executed for Chandrayaan-2, with risk mitigation strategies applied in line with those used for Earth-orbiting missions.

ISRO also revised 82 manoeuvre plans for LEO satellites to prevent post-manoeuvre close approaches, while two manoeuvre plans were similarly adjusted in GEO, ensuring that avoidance actions did not inadvertently create new risks.

Coordination proved vital in ensuring mission safety. For Chandrayaan-2, ISRO worked closely with NASA, which facilitated communication with private lunar operators such as Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines, and iSpace during their missions in lunar orbit.

The report also highlighted ISRO’s commitment to responsible space operations, noting that the IRNSS-1D satellite was safely moved to a graveyard orbit about 600 km above the geostationary belt and passivated, marking the first disposal of an Indian satellite from an inclined geosynchronous orbit.

Meanwhile, multiple Indian space objects re-entered Earth’s atmosphere in 2025 due to natural decay, including TES and POEM-4.

Two stages from the SSLV-D3 mission and debris from PSLV-C3 also re-entered, bringing the total number of Indian objects deorbited during the year to 12.

With satellite congestion rising rapidly, ISRO’s latest report highlights not only operational vigilance but also its evolving capability to manage space traffic safely across Earth orbit and beyond.

Agencies