Space Debris

Baroness Mobarik Excerpts

Tuesday 18th November 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Leong (Lab)]

The noble Lord makes a very interesting and good point there. Space may be the final frontier, but it is beginning to resemble the final landfill; if we are to boldly go where no man has gone before, we must first ensure that we are not tripping over the debris of those who have already been there. He is absolutely right that it is congested up there. I will share some statistics with noble Lords. There are currently something like 12,500 functional satellites, 2,700 satellites that are not working and defunct, 54,000 pieces of debris up to a size of 10 centimetres, 1.2 million pieces between 1 and 10 centimetres, and 140 million pieces between 1 millimetre and 1 centimetre. Yes, we need to clean up, and there is economic growth in there, and our companies will get a share of that.

[Baroness Mobarik (Con)]

My Lords, having our own sovereign launch capability is one of the most practical tools we could have for monitoring space debris. It gives us the ability to put the right satellites into the right orbits at the right time without relying on another country’s launch schedule or priorities. What are the Government doing to invest in building spaceports, especially in the north of Scotland—Sutherland —and not just one but a cluster, to enhance our sovereign launch capability?

[Lord Leong (Lab)]

I thank the noble Baroness for that. We should be very proud of the spaceport up in the Shetland Islands. The Government are investing in that project and I hope we will be making an announcement soon on when we can launch a satellite from there. His Majesty the King is very interested in this whole area of space: he announced the Astra Carta initiative in June 2023 and is bringing stakeholders together to look at how to create a more sustainable space for everybody.