The UK Space Agency recently announced that it has launched a major new procurement process to tackle the growing threat of space debris initiating a £75.6 million tender for the nation’s first mission to actively remove defunct satellites from orbit.
To this end Richard Jacklin, Commercial Lead at Plextek, commented, “Space is getting increasingly crowded. Over 10,000 active satellites orbit the Earth now – and thousands more coming from mega-constellations like SpaceX’s Starlink and Amazon’s Kuiper, increasing conjunctions and in the worst case making a collision in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) increasingly likely.
“It’s no surprise that the industry truly welcomes the news that the UK Space Agency is progressing with Phase 3 of their Active Debris Removal (ADR) program. This is a large and meaningful investment in tackling a global problem of removing defunct satellites from orbit. “Threats also don’t just come from large, trackable objects — micro-debris no bigger than a grain of sand also orbit the earth in their millions. Invisible to current tracking systems, these fragments can punch holes in satellites, threaten astronaut safety, and derail multi-million-dollar missions. Yet, until now, operators have been flying only with theoretical models.
“To combat this, the Space industry urgently needs better detection and debris models. Like the RPO radar and mmWave radar for micro debris detection. Small enough to sit aboard satellites, powerful enough to detect debris as tiny as 1 mm, and smart enough to work in real-time, this radar can continuously scan for micro debris from orbit itself.
“Unlike traditional ground-based systems, mmWave radar offers high-frequency, low-power, always-on sensing — filling the gap in data needed for improving the current LEO debris models, and smarter space traffic management.
“Along with Europe’s ESA championing the Zero Debris Initiative and the U.S. ramping up investment in space domain awareness, the momentum in the UK is real. For space agencies and commercial operators alike, mmWave radar isn’t just a technological upgrade — it’s a necessity for sustainable space operations.
“This is a great time to work in the UK space industry and selecting ADR is a smart government investment that hopefully UK businesses will capitalize and show the world what we can do!”