Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what assessment the Government has made of the proportion of orbital debris generated by (a) anti-satellite tests, (b) accidental collisions, (c) explosions of satellites or rocket stages and (d) the abandonment of defunct satellites and rocket bodies.

The National Space Operations Centre monitors risks to UK interests in space. There are currently over 35,000 catalogued space objects.

The European Space Agency’s Space Debris Office states:

• 28% of in-orbit fragmentations have an unknown cause, and a further 28% are caused by propulsion-related failures/explosions.
• 9% of historic fragmentations were caused deliberately.
• Less than 1% are attributable to collisions.

HMG doesn’t distinguish between causes of debris in operational orbits and treats all debris as a risk. Causality is however monitored by UKSA, supporting improvements in safety and security through improved tracking, collision avoidance and integrity of space objects to reduce catastrophic failures.