7 months ago
3
Following a adjacent miss successful 2024 betwixt an Indian outer and a overseas spacecraft, New Delhi has begun readying “bodyguard satellites” to ticker implicit its fleet, according to media reports — a determination that could beryllium portion of a wider strategy that includes caller surveillance spacecraft, radars, telescopes, and technologies specified arsenic LiDAR.
Satellites contiguous usher airplanes and ships, powerfulness the internet, tv services, and planetary fiscal transactions, and assistance scientists show the upwind and clime change. They are besides indispensable for nationalist security: modern armies slope connected satellites for communications, surveillance, and navigation. But arsenic the fig of satellites successful orbit has grown, truthful person the risks. Spacecraft tin collide with debris, beryllium jammed by vigor interference, hacked done crushed systems, and threatened by hostile manoeuvres by different satellites. Given the costs of maintaining satellites successful orbit and logistical challenges to gathering and launching caller ones, protecting them has go a large interest for each spacefaring nation.
Avoiding collisions
Even arsenic a carnal environment, abstraction presents risks that would beryllium unimaginable connected the ground. For example, a tiny screw near implicit from a rocket tin punch a spread successful a spacecraft traveling astatine 28,000 km per hour, capable to terminate the mission.
To negociate this risk, countries person built ample debris-tracking networks. The US operates the Space Fence, a radar that tin spot objects the size of a marble. The European Union runs EU Space Surveillance and Tracking (EUSST), which warns outer operators astir impending threats. India has the Indian Space Situational Awareness and Management (IS4OM) centre in Bengaluru, a satellite-tracking hub that tracks satellites, warns of unsafe encounters, and coordinates collision avoidance manoeuvres.
Indeed, successful 2023 alone, Indian satellites executed much than 10 collision-avoidance manoeuvres. India’s Project NETRA is expanding these capabilities with caller radars and telescopes. The Multi-Object Tracking Radar astatine Sriharikota already provides immoderate sum portion immoderate caller sites astir the state are successful the works. This said, India presently doesn’t person the capableness for continuous monitoring.
The “bodyguard satellites” India is reportedly mulling present could beryllium dedicated spacecraft that could travel invaluable satellites, show adjacent approaches, and possibly adjacent quality hostile manoeuvres. While specified technologies are believed to inactive beryllium nether discussion, that New Delhi is considering them astatine each illustrates however earnestly it’s taking the risk.
Physical and integer threats
Satellites usage vigor signals to speech to the earth, including with users of navigation services. A almighty crushed transmitter tin jam a satellite’s uplink oregon downlink oregon usage spoofing — wherever mendacious signals imitate genuine ones — tin mislead navigation users. Spacefaring agencies person responded to specified threats by designing hardened waveforms and systems. For instance, the US subject developed its ‘Protected Tactical Waveform’ for anti-jam communications and ‘Advanced Extremely High Frequency’ satellites that usage frequencies that are harder to disrupt. Likewise, Europe has rolled retired Galileo OSNMA, which authenticates navigation messages to minimise spoofing. The US is besides deploying an encrypted GPS M-code.
Take NavIC, India’s ain determination navigation system, for example. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has been investigating Navigation Message Authentication (NMA), a strategy that volition let receivers to verify that signals are the existent deal. This diagnostic isn’t afloat operational yet, however, but it could fortify the country’s users’ quality to defy spoofing. While overmuch little is known astir subject satellites, it’s apt they besides usage anti-jamming techniques specified arsenic beam-steering antennas and spread-spectrum signals.
This said, NavIC is presently facing a crisis. Beginning 2016, the outer constellation suffered aggregate atomic timepiece failures and nine clocks had reported failed by 2018. IRNSS-1I was launched successful that twelvemonth to regenerate IRNSS-1A. Other satellites, specified arsenic IRNSS-1B and IRNSS-1F, are present showing signs of age. In aboriginal 2025, a faulty motor valve prevented the NVS-02 next-generation outer for NavIC from being placed successful the close orbit aft launch. At present, manufacture reporting has indicated that NavIC could beryllium 1 much outer nonaccomplishment distant from losing its quality to supply navigation services.
The integer menace is possibly much alarming due to the fact that the weakest points successful outer networks are often the crushed stations, gateways, and idiosyncratic terminals. In 2022, a cyberattack against the Viasat web disrupted net services crossed Europe conscionable arsenic the Ukraine struggle was escalating. In response, agencies worldwide issued advisories and acceptable up partnerships. The US has the Space Information Sharing and Analysis Centre (ISAC) to coordinate cyber menace intelligence.
India’s equivalent enactment has travel from CERT-In wrong the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, which successful 2025 issued guidelines for outer operators that emphasise beardown encryption, web segmentation, unafraid credentials, regular patching, and incidental reporting. India’s caller licensing model done IN-SPACe besides requires backstage operators to comply with information and information standards. The accent is connected ensuring that arsenic much backstage actors articulation India’s abstraction economy, they volition follow cyber hygiene from the outset.
‘Bodyguard satellites’
Satellites are besides threatened by earthy forces. Solar storms tin harm electronics, induce currents successful powerfulness systems, and summation atmospheric drag, causing spacecraft to autumn retired of orbits sooner than expected. In turn, operators usage forecasts from agencies similar the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the European Space Agency, and the Centre of Excellence successful Space Sciences India astatine IISER Kolkata to beryllium prepared. India besides took a large measurement with the Aditya-L1 mission, launched to survey the prima from the L1 Lagrange point. Data from this ngo tin output aboriginal informing of coronal wide ejections and different star activity, helping satellite-controllers spot spacecraft successful harmless mode and/or program orbital manoeuvres that minimise exposure.
Beyond debris and earthy threats besides lies the shadiness of geopolitics. Satellites tin beryllium inspected, shadowed oregon adjacent targeted by third-party actors. Rendezvous and proximity operations utilized to beryllium a niche exertion but person go ubiquitous today.
While the outer that allegedly approached the Indian outer successful 2024 didn’t effect successful a collision, officials person allegedly work it arsenic a trial of capableness and a warning. Such manoeuvres are hard to observe without changeless tracking. Former ISRO officials person suggested that LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) satellites could contented amended warnings of these threats arsenic good arsenic much clip to respond.
The conception of “bodyguard satellites” whitethorn besides autumn successful this category. These spacecraft could beryllium positioned adjacent a captious outer to show its surroundings, observe suspicious manoeuvres by different satellites, pass of threats, and physically intervene if required. They whitethorn besides travel orbital assets that support against suspicious approaches — a strategy that mirrors planetary trends wherever large powers are investigating antiaircraft and violative outer technologies, adjacent if astir of the details are nether wraps.
Further, exertion isn’t the lone shield: planetary agreements tin and bash found the rules of the road. The UN Committee connected the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) adopted voluntary guidelines successful 2019 for the semipermanent sustainability of space. And portion NATO has declared abstraction to beryllium an operational domain, 10 countries person travel unneurotic nether the Combined Space Operations Initiative to beforehand liable behaviour successful orbit. India stepped into these forums. In 2024, the state hosted the Inter-Agency Debris Coordination Committee (IADC), wherever ISRO publically declared its volition to prosecute ‘Debris-Free Space Missions by 2030’.
This was a important displacement from 2019, erstwhile ISRO and the Deference Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) carried retired an anti-satellite rocket trial successful low-earth orbit that created debris and drew planetary criticism, including for endangering the International Space Station.
No mean feat
The Indian authorities has besides approved a ₹27,000-crore programme to motorboat 52 caller surveillance satellites, with the archetypal expected successful 2026. They are expected to supply earth-observation and information functions and grow India’s autarkic sum of the orbital domain. Some start-ups are besides contributing with space-based abstraction situational consciousness satellites that way debris and objects successful orbit.
The aboriginal of outer extortion successful abstraction frankincense seems to impact aggregate layers of protection. The archetypal measurement is to beryllium capable to observe everything, utilizing IS4OM, Project NETRA, and prospective LiDAR satellites. Then, erstwhile a menace is detected, ISRO oregon the corresponding relation debar collisions, possibly utilizing predetermined collision-avoidance manoeuvres. Further, communications indispensable beryllium hardened and signals indispensable beryllium encrypted, networks indispensable beryllium segmented and perpetually monitored, and wide rules indispensable beryllium drafted to study incidents.
As for earthy threats: operators are already readying for star storms with forecasting services; the Aditya-L1 ngo tin besides supply much up-to-date abstraction upwind awareness. Once a outer has neared the extremity of its life, finally, operators request to guarantee controlled re-entry and passivation, oregon adhere to restrictions connected however agelong dormant spacecraft tin stay successful orbit.
These protections tin beryllium augmented by ideas specified arsenic bodyguard satellites, autonomous avoidance capabilities, and communications designed to withstand interference, which successful crook tin beryllium bolstered by planetary guidelines forged nether the UN’s auspices, coordinated done the IADC, and enforced done multilateral initiatives. In the last analysis, protecting satellites is nary tiny feat — but the benefits person progressively outweighed the expenses.
