How we protected the UK and space in April 2024
This report was issued in May 2024 and covers the time period 1 April 2024 to 30 April 2024 inclusive.
The National Space Operations Centre is led by the UK Space Agency and UK Space Command in partnership with the Met Office.
The National Space Operations Centre (NSpOC) protects UK interests in space and on Earth and works with international partners to ensure space remains safe and accessible to all.
Summary
Overall risks to UK interests in space and on Earth from space-related threats, risks and hazards were lower in April than March. We are anticipating an increase in objects re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere in May but expect many of these to burn-up in the atmosphere.
Uncontrolled Re-Entry Early Warning
There were 12% fewer objects re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere in April than March. We monitored 22 uncontrolled re-entries in April to protect the UK and UK Overseas Territories as well as support our international partners.
Chart showing number of re-entries monitored in April 2024. January: 13, February: 24, March: 25, April: 22
In-Space Collision Avoidance
We warned UK-licensed satellites of 1,899 potential collision risks in April allowing operators to take critical manoeuvre actions to avoid potentially catastrophic collisions. This represents a 0.2% reduction in potential collisions involving UK-licensed satellites compared to March.
Chart showing number of collision risks to UK licensed satellites monitored in April 2024. January: 1,690, February: 1,943, March: 1,903, April: 1,899
Fragmentation incidents
We investigated two potential fragmentation incidents in April including an incident involving a 24-year-old rocket body that experienced out-gassing/venting and significantly increased its rate of spin.
In the vacuum of space out-gassing occurs when materials break down due to high temparature fluctuations and radiation exposure, this leads to weakened structures and ultimately venting of gases or fuels. Neither fragmentation incident posed a substantive risk to UK licensed satellites.
Space weather
The Met Office issued ten critical space weather alerts in April. This represents a 60% reduction from March.
Number of Objects in Space
There were 277 additional objects recorded in space in April taking the total number to 28,752. These numbers do not include small items of debris and therefore the total number of actual space objects is much higher.
Chart showing number registered space objects by month. January: 28,014, February: 28,172, March: 28,478, April: 28,752
Data source: US Space Command
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.