How we protected the UK and space in May 2024
This report was issued in June 2024 and covers the time period 1 May 2024 to 31 May 2024 inclusive.
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The National Space Operations Centre (NSpOC) protects UK interests in space and on Earth. We work with UK government departments, industry, academia and international partners to ensure space remains safe, sustainable and accessible to all.
Summary
Overall risks to UK interests in space and on Earth from space-related risks and hazards were higher in May than April. This was largely driven by an increase in the number of space objects re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere and an increase in the number of collision risks affecting UK licenced satellites. Many of the re-entering objects are assessed as likely to have burned-up on re-entry and no UK licenced satellite was involved in a collision in-spite of the higher risk.
Uncontrolled Re-Entry Early Warning
There were 155% more objects re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere in May than April. We monitored 56 uncontrolled re-entries in May to protect the UK and UK Overseas Territories as well as support our international partners. This was an anticipated increase due to planned re-entries of ‘designed-to-demise’ small communications satellites.
Chart showing number of re-entries monitored by month. January: 13, February: 24, March: 25, April: 22 May: 56
In-Space Collision Avoidance
We warned UK-licensed satellite operators of 2,560 potential collision risks in May. This represents a 35% increase in risks over the previous month. Our warnings allow operators to take critical collision avoidance decisions.
Chart showing number of collision risks to UK licensed satellites monitored by month. January: 1,690, February: 1,943, March: 1,903, April: 1,899, May: 2,560
Fragmentation incidents
There have been no fragmentation events this month
Space weather
The Met Office issued 98 critical space weather alerts in May. This represents an 880% increase from April. Space weather was very active throughout the first half of the month, with geomagnetic storms reaching levels not seen since 2003. These had the potential to affect power grids and other infrastructure, although in the UK the risk was well managed and services were generally unaffected.
Number of Objects in Space
There were 274 additional objects recorded in space in May taking the total number to 28,850. These numbers do not include small items of debris and therefore the total number of actual space objects is much higher. No UK-licensed satellites were added to the Catalogue this month.
Chart showing number registered space objects by month. January: 28,014, February: 28,172, March: 28,478, April: 28,752, May: 28,850
Note that numbers in the Registered Space Objects catalogue can fluctuate over time as data is continually verified.
Comments
The National Space Operations Centre combines and coordinates UK civil and military space domain awareness capabilities to enable operations, promote prosperity and protect UK interests in space and on Earth from space related threats, risks and hazards.