Britain’s military-civilian space watch logged a busier month in orbit in July, with more objects falling back to Earth and two satellites breaking apart.
The UK Space Agency’s National Space Operations Centre (NSpOC) reported 62 objects re-entering the atmosphere in July, a 17% jump from June. Of those, 59 were satellites, two were rocket bodies and one was likely debris.
The centre logged 1,209 collision warnings for UK-licensed satellites in July, down 16% from June and below the 12-month rolling average. Every NSpOC warning and protection service stayed up through the month, the agency said.
The catalogued in-orbit population keeps climbing. A net 322 objects were added to the US Satellite Catalogue in July, pushing the resident space object count to 34,751.
The month also produced two satellite breakups, one in low Earth orbit and one in a graveyard orbit. Analysts are still assessing both events, the centre said without naming the spacecraft.
The July report caps a year of gradual growth in re-entry activity, which climbed from 34 tracked objects in August 2025 to 62 in July 2026. NSpOC, run jointly by the UK Space Agency and the Ministry of Defence, publishes its protection-and-security bulletin monthly.
