The rapid progress in space technology has enabled wider access to space for many new and non-traditional actors, including private industries, startups, and educational institutes. Low cost of launch and shorter development timespans have completely transformed the space arena by allowing multiple satellites to be launched simultaneously. The recent reforms announced by the Government of India have opened up avenues for participation from private industries and academia in the space sector.

In addition to the rise in the number of players, the utilization and development of space technology have also undergone phenomenal changes. There is an increasing trend towards deployment of smaller satellites due to their shorter development cycle, lower cost production, flexibility in service and resilience to failure. Typically placed in Low Earth Orbit and often without trackability and maneuverability, such satellites pose a non-trivial risk of on-orbit collisions. Proliferation of multiple large constellations of satellites, hundred to thousand in numbers, is also anticipated to contribute to the drastic rise in the population density of space objects. In this context, Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and Space Traffic Management (STM) have become an integral and indispensable part of safe and sustainable space operations.

In light of the ever-increasing population of objects in outer space, it is essential to raise awareness on the importance of SSA and STM and address the future concerns through detailed discussions and deliberations with the concerned stakeholders. The Workshop on “SSA & STM: Growing Concerns” aims to bring out the potentially detrimental effects of the increasing number of space objects and deliberate on the methods, procedures, technologies, and policies that need to be developed and implemented to continue long-term sustainable utilization of outer space for the benefit of humankind.

At present, a robust space situational awareness capability is an essential pre-requisite to continue safe and sustainable operations in an increasingly congested outer space. At present, India’s space object detection, tracking and monitoring capabilities are limited and need to be enhanced to meet future requirements. The current space age is also characterized by the contributions of private space industries in innovation and development of technology. Recognizing that many of the global private players have demonstrated credible space object detection and tracking capabilities and offer commercial SSA services, an Industry Meet is planned during the workshop. The meet will offer a unique networking platform where Indian industries and start-ups can interact with foreign original equipment manufacturers and industries providing SSA and STM services and explore future avenues of collaboration towards developing indigenous capabilities to offer space object tracking and monitoring services. For the foreign industries, this would be an opportunity to gauge the capabilities of Indian industries to expand their scope of operations and business through local partnership.