Clear Orbit Secure Future 2026

Introduction Once thought to be a distant aspiration, space technologies now form foundational and critical infrastructure underpinning daily life on Earth. Space is no longer limited to the civilian government or military. Across the globe, society depends on space infrastructure for everything from telecommunications and navigation to global finance and national security, with services increasingly delivered through commercial markets. This has generated a vibrant space economy, valued at more than $600 billion in 2023 and projected to reach $1.8 trillion by 2035.1 While space enables global benefits, growing dependence also creates a strategic vulnerability. Any disruption to space infrastructure now directly threatens global security, scientific missions and commercial activity, resulting in potentially severe economic consequences. One of the most immediate and growing threats to space infrastructure is space debris, which includes everything from small fragments of old satellites to entirely defunct rocket bodies abandoned in orbit. Low Earth orbit (LEO) is becoming progressively more congested with these objects. As of September 2025, LeoLabs tracked 25,081 objects, including 12,000 active satellites and various derelicts. This does not include the millions of fragments too small to track but still highly dangerous to spacecraft, which are the result of decades of global space activities. This cluttered orbital environment poses a systemic risk to critical satellite missions. The rise of commercial space activities over the past 20 years has further intensified the urgency of ensuring sustainable access to, and safe operations in, the space environment. In the past decade, the increase in the number of active objects has been driven by commercial space actors, who have played an active role in ensuring the overall safety of their mission to protect their economic investments. Nevertheless, the risk of collisions continues to rise due to the increasing number of objects in orbit. Even a single debris-related event in a critical orbit may trigger service disruptions, financial claims and reputation damage, with cascading impacts on nearby missions. More contentiously, past anti-satellite testing activities and collisions have provided a level of debris in space that creates ongoing hazards for current commercial activities. Space debris is therefore not only a technical challenge but also a strategic issue with profound economic, diplomatic and security dimensions. Despite initiatives to address this matter, progress has been hindered by geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainties. The lack of a unified diplomatic mechanism to address the issue of space debris leaves the global community without a structured way to address shared vulnerabilities and develop collective solutions. This gap highlights the urgent need for international cooperation, policy innovation and economic incentives to ensure the long-term reliability and safety of space activities. Before actors can identify which solutions are the most appropriate to pursue, they must first share an understanding of how the debris landscape will evolve in the coming decades, what the potential cost to satellite operations may be and what range of solutions may be required to ameliorate the problem. Through technical modelling and economic analysis, this report aims to provide a shared baseline for evaluating debris remediation and mitigation solutions. A high-level overview of this integrated modelling framework, from population projections to economic impact, is illustrated in Appendix A. Space capabilities are vital to modern life on Earth, and their safe operation is a shared responsibility. Space debris is a growing strategic risk that threatens the reliability of satellite services and the sustainability of all space activities. Without concrete action, both the space sector and the terrestrial economy will have to shoulder the rising costs. Addressing this issue requires a shift in perspective from viewing debris as a technical nuisance to recognizing it as a systemic challenge that demands coordinated global action. To protect the benefits that space infrastructure delivers, the sector must shift towards proactive, cross-sector sustainability strategies. Clear Orbit, Secure Future: A Call to Action on Space Debris 5