MajorTOM: Developing a tool suite to support regulation and monitoring of UK orbital risk

In July 2021 the Space Industry Regulations came into force in the UK appointing the UK Civil Aviation Authority to exercise the functions of the regulator for space activities conducted in and from the UK. These functions, as laid out in the 2018 Space Industry Act, include the stipulations that the regulator is responsible for monitoring spaceflight activities to protect public safety and national security and to secure compliance with the provisions of the act, the conditions of issued licences and the UK’s international obligations.

While the risks associated with individual missions are assessed during the licensing process the dynamic nature of the orbital environment means that these risks are constantly evolving. To support in monitoring the evolving risk the CAA’s Space Engineering Team has developed MajorTOM (Tools for Orbital Monitoring) to track and analyse the risks associated with current and future UK missions. For example, by monitoring the residual lifetime of non-manoeuvrable objects or inv