Critically evaluate India's preparedness for tracking and mitigating space debris risks in the context of its expanding lunar exploration programme.

The uncontrolled crash of a spent SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage near the Moon's Einstein and Bell craters on 5 August 2026 [1] showed that derelict rocket bodies now threaten cislunar space, not just Earth orbit. As India moves from Chandrayaan-3 towards sample-return and crewed lunar goals, its debris capability is credible in Earth orbit but thin beyond it.

Strengths in tracking capability

• IS4OM, ISRO's dedicated control centre, is the nodal body for space sustainability and publishes the annual Indian Space Situational Assessment Report (ISSAR) [2].
• Project NETRA is expanding hardware — a radar at Chandrapur (Assam), an optical telescope at Hanle (Ladakh), and the MOTR at Sriharikota now tracking space objects [2].
• Operational maturity: ISRO executed 10 collision avoidance manoeuvres in 2024, including one for a deep-space mission [2].

Strengths in mitigation policy

• The Debris Free Space Missions (DFSM) pledge targets debris-free missions by 2030 for all Indian actors, government and private [3].
• India's post-mission disposal norm — under 5 years residual orbital life — is stricter than the IADC 25-year guideline [3].
• Cartosat-2 became ISRO's first LEO satellite deliberately de-orbited at end-of-life (2024) [2].

Critical gaps

• Legacy debris persists: 41 fragments of the 2001 PSLV-C3 upper-stage break-up remain in orbit [2].
• Sensor reach is Earth-centric; India lacks dedicated cislunar surveillance, so lunar-vicinity objects depend on foreign and even amateur tracking [1].
• Legal vacuum: the Outer Space Treaty (1967) and Liability Convention (1972) impose no operative duty against impacting celestial bodies [4].
• DFSM is a voluntary pledge, not binding on the growing private sector authorised through IN-SPACe.

India's tracking architecture is sound for Earth orbit but must now be extended outward. Converting DFSM into enforceable licensing conditions, adding deep-space sensors under NETRA, and championing a cislunar debris norm at UN-COPUOS would let India lead space sustainability, aligning its lunar ambitions with the Outer Space Treaty's vision of space as the province of all humankind.