Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to better understand the changing risks from the expansion of small satellite constellations that use cheaper commercial components and the increased reliance on space-enabled technologies, to allow the Government to better plan for and mitigate the impact of severe space weather.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) works closely across Government and other infrastructure operators to ensure that the impacts of a severe space weather event are well understood, and the appropriate steps are taken to ensure Great Britain’s preparedness for major space weather events.

BEIS is due to publish a new space weather strategy later this year, which proposes undertaking targeted work to better understand the impact of space weather on space-enabled technologies.