Space Awareness Reaches the Cislunar Region

Late in August, U.S. President Donald Trump announced actions to renew the commercial space industry. With many nations already vying for a return to the moon, including the U.S., the efforts have aligned government and civilian companies in interdependent partnerships for space exploration and national defense.

Space agencies and governments are reaching beyond the satellite orbits of the exosphere into the cislunar range for building situational space awareness protections. That space includes all the space between the Earth and the Moon.

Courtesy of USSF, Photo by Edgar Nava, Space Systems Command, Edwards Air Force Base, AFRL, March 2025

Space has become a new frontier for commercial enterprises, mainly satellites that orbit in numerous altitudes above the planet. The number of satellites in some orbits have become so numerous that many agencies around the world must monitor them to avoid collisions. The situation has become increasingly dangerous for space travel as the U.S. and others venture further out from the planet. With many nations vying to be first in the new round to visit the moon, others are also planning to travel to Mars.

The UK Space Agency now issues a monthly report to highlight how they are protecting their citizens from the impacts of collisions and uncontrolled re-entries. The UK National Space Operations Centre reported a 58% increase in collision risks from August to September between UK-licensed objects and others. The highest number of incidents this year was in February with 129 risk situations.

Even with all the coordination around viable satellites and space junk, a more compelling issue is the offensive systems that are increasingly being employed in the cislunar region.

The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency warns that the increasing competition and threats from adversaries to the U.S., can have destructive outcomes. Cyber warfare and other threats are the new norm for how defensive and offensive capabilities that can damage U.S. and other satellites. And this is in addition to the normal surveillance concerns that continue to grow.

With an increasing number of satellites entering earth orbits, satellite observation and surveillance is becoming more vital. The U.S. and UK conducted their first coordinated operation to reposition a U.S. satellite to examine a UK satellite in September. The successful joint venture is part of a growing coordination between the U.S. and the UK to combine efforts for the protection of assets in space and on the ground.

U.S. Space Command is looking toward defending U.S. and other allied partners with greater deterrence, from space-based weapons to protective interceptor systems, such as the Golden Dome. Other efforts are building out the nation’s Space Situation Awareness throughout the cislunar region.

One recent operation involves the Oracle-M, that will monitor and track objects traveling within the cislunar region. In March, the coordinated efforts of the U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command and the Air Force Research Awareness Laboratory tested the Oracle-M with a Hot Fire Test.

To counter an attack or mitigate other unintended situations in space, The U.S. Artemis Accords hopes to avail some of those adversarial risks by bringing nations together for peaceful purposes. The accord now has 56 signers since its inception in 2020, though some of the recognized adversaries to the U.S., including China, Russia and Iran, have not signed on. The Artemis Accord requires transparency, interoperability, help in an emergency, the release of scientific data and the registration of space objects.

By Sherry Harbert

Image courtesy of USSF, Photo by Edgar Nava, Space Systems Command, Edwards Air Force Base, AFRL, March 2025