Space resilience

Outer space has become prominent in national security and defence policy in recent years and is an increasingly contested domain.

Commentators have discussed potential impacts on UK security that may arise from disruption to satellite and ground-based space infrastructure. In addition to potentially degrading the UK’s military capabilities, critical systems within sectors such as energy, finance and transport could be affected. This all suggests that interference by adversaries could pose severe risks to the UK’s national security.

The Committee has launched an inquiry on the UK’s dependence on space infrastructure and its resilience to potential disruptions. The Committee would welcome written evidence on the following questions:

1. What are the main civilian dependencies on space systems?

a. Are there any under-appreciated areas that deserve closer scrutiny?

b. How much relies on non-UK assets (for example US systems)?

2. What are the main military dependencies on space systems?

a. Are there any under-appreciated areas that deserve closer scrutiny?

b. How much relies on non-UK assets (for example US systems)?

3. What capabilities do adversaries hold to disrupt space-enabled systems (both in space and on the ground)?

4. What would be the civilian and/or military impacts of modest and severe disruption?

a. Are there any under-appreciated areas that deserve closer scrutiny?

5. How adequate is the UK’s civilian and military resilience to handle modest and severe space disruption?

a. How adequate is the structure of governance and decision-making? Does anything need to change here?

6. What investments and wider actions are needed from Government and industry to:

a. Deter adversaries (including options to retaliate effectively if required)

b. Improve resilience (both for the UK, and working with partners)

Guidance for submissions

Each submission should be no longer than 3,000 words and contain a brief introduction about the author. Submissions should be in malleable format such as MS Word (not PDFs) with no use of colour, logos or photos. Further guidance is available on our Written Evidence Guidance. Please note, we welcome detail on specific areas of expertise – there is no need to answer all questions.

Deadline for submissions

The deadline for written submissions is 23:59pm on 11 October 2026. Written evidence may be submitted on the basis of anonymity (meaning that it will be published, but without your name), or in confidence (meaning that it won't be published at all). If you would like to submit evidence anonymously or in confidence, you will be able to select this option during the submission process. Please also state at the beginning of your evidence which of these you want to request, and tell us why.

For further guidance, you can contact jcnss@parliament.uk.

It is recommended that all submitters familiarise themselves with the Guidance on giving evidence to a Select Committee of the House of Commons which outlines particulars of word count, format, document size, and content restrictions.

Diversity

We encourage members of underrepresented groups to submit written evidence. We aim to have diverse panels of Select Committee witnesses and ask organisations to bear this in mind when we ask them to choose a representative. We are currently monitoring the diversity of our witnesses.

Evidence goes to the committee through Parliament’s own form. There is no way to submit it from here: Parliament publishes no API for written evidence, so the button above opens the committee’s page.

What you send is published under your name and can be quoted in the committee’s report. Keep it under 3,000 words, send it as a document rather than a letter in the body of an email, and answer the questions above rather than writing generally.

This committee accepts submissions after the closing date, though earlier is better.