Space Debris

Lord Clement-Jones Excerpts

Tuesday 18th November 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Clement-Jones (LD)]

My Lords, I am glad that the Minister and the noble Viscount mentioned the most recent report of the Select Committee. Given what the Minister has said about active debris removal and the European Space Agency, what are the Government doing to ensure that the cost of end-of-life compliance is met by commercial satellite operators and not from the public purse?

[Lord Leong (Lab)]

The noble Lord makes a very interesting point. The Government are currently funding innovation in debris mitigation and removal. We support the research and development of UKRI and Innovate UK and are funding private companies such as Astroscale and ClearSpace to carry out in-orbit servicing trials. As far as cleaning the outer and inner in-orbit debris is concerned, space is global and we have to work with our global partners in addressing this issue. Conversations are ongoing as to who will pay for it.