ISRO Performed 29 Collision-Avoidance Manoeuvres in 18 Months as India's Orbits Grow Crowded

India's satellites are spending more of their fuel simply staying out of harm's way. In a written reply in the Lok Sabha on 5 August 2026, Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Dr Jitendra Singh disclosed that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) executed 29 Collision Avoidance Manoeuvres (CAMs) over the previous 18 months to keep its operational spacecraft clear of other objects. The pace is quickening: 20 of those manoeuvres were carried out in 2025 and nine more in 2026 so far — a cadence that lays bare how fast low-Earth orbit is filling up with active satellites and dead debris alike.

A busier, riskier orbit

A collision-avoidance manoeuvre is a small, deliberate burn that nudges a satellite onto a slightly different path when tracking data shows another object drifting uncomfortably close. Each one costs precious propellant and shortens a spacecraft's working life, so agencies perform them only when a "conjunction" crosses a risk threshold. That ISRO has needed 29 in a year and a half — and that the tally is rising year on year — is a direct measure of how congested Earth's orbital lanes have become as mega-constellations, small satellites and fragmentation debris multiply.

20 of 22 satellites in the danger zone

The government also told Parliament that 20 of India's 22 active low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites face a heightened risk of collision. LEO — the shell within roughly 2,000 km of Earth's surface — is where most Earth-observation, communications and remote-sensing spacecraft operate, and it is also where spent rocket bodies, defunct satellites and fragments from past break-ups are most densely packed. The concentration of both useful assets and hazardous junk in the same narrow band is what makes routine screening and evasive burns unavoidable.

Inside IS4OM and Project NETRA

India tracks these threats through IS4OM — the ISRO System for Safe and Sustainable Space Operations Management — a dedicated facility set up in Bengaluru to monitor space objects, assess conjunction risks and recommend manoeuvres to satellite operators. IS4OM is fed by Project NETRA (Network for Space Object Tracking and Analysis), India's indigenous effort to build a domestic web of radars, optical telescopes and data-processing tools to detect, catalogue and predict the movement of objects in orbit. Together they give India a growing measure of independence in space situational awareness, reducing reliance on foreign tracking data to protect national assets.

Aiming for debris-free missions by 2030

The disclosures fit into a longer-term commitment ISRO has made to clean up after itself. Under its Debris Free Space Missions (DFSM) initiative, the agency has set the goal that all Indian space actors — government and private — should achieve debris-free missions by 2030. In practice that means passivating spent rocket stages so leftover fuel cannot explode, planning controlled re-entries, and deorbiting satellites at end of life rather than abandoning them in crowded orbits. ISRO also publishes an annual space situational assessment that documents debris trends and the manoeuvres carried out during the year.

Why this matters ahead of Gaganyaan

The stakes rise sharply as India prepares to put astronauts into orbit. A crewed Gaganyaan capsule, and eventually the Bharatiya Antariksh Station, will occupy the same debris-heavy LEO region, where even a centimetre-scale fragment travelling at orbital velocity can be lethal. Robust tracking, reliable conjunction screening and the ability to manoeuvre on short notice are therefore not just about protecting hardware — they are prerequisites for safe human spaceflight. The rising manoeuvre count is a reminder that as India's ambitions in orbit expand, so does the housekeeping required to keep that orbit usable.

Sources

• Deccan Herald: https://www.deccanherald.com/amp/story/science/space/isro-carried-out-29-collision-avoidance-manoeuvres-to-protect-indian-satellites-in-last-18-months-4100571
• The Federal: https://thefederal.com/category/news/20-of-indias-22-active-leo-satellites-face-higher-collision-risk-govt-tells-lok-sabha-252653
• PIB (via GlobalSecurity): https://www.globalsecurity.org/space/library/news/2026/space-260805-india-pib02.htm
• Organiser: https://organiser.org/2026/08/09/373966/bharat/indias-orbital-safety-strategy-how-isro-is-tackling-space-debris-through-collision-avoidance-advanced-tracking/
• IndianWeb2: https://www.indianweb2.com/2026/08/indias-20-satellites-in-crowded-orbit.html