New Delhi, Nov 6:
India has officially unveiled its ‘Swachh Space’ vision under the Debris Free Space Mission (DFSM), aiming to eliminate the creation of new orbital debris across all government and private space missions by the year 2030.
Announcing the initiative, Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Dr. Jitendra Singh stated that India is emerging as an early global pioneer in active orbital debris mitigation. According to government data, India currently accounts for only 129 trackable debris objects in orbit—including 23 dead low-Earth orbit satellites, 26 geostationary craft, and 47 spent rocket stages—constituting less than 1% of the global orbital junk inventory dominated by the US and Russia. ISRO has already mandated de-orbiting fuel margins and executed controlled atmospheric re-entries, supported by its Rs 509-crore Project NETRA surveillance network.
Bolstering India’s in-orbit servicing roadmap, Hyderabad-based space startup Cosmoserve Space has inaugurated ‘Base 1’, a dedicated facility to manufacture satellite servicing and debris capture systems. The firm plans to deploy a ‘Dual Spacecraft Architecture’ featuring a large mothership orbital service station paired with agile autonomous service vehicles to inspect, refuel, and de-orbit defunct satellites, a model designed to reduce servicing costs below $1 million per mission ahead of upcoming Gaganyaan flights.