From 2016 to 2020 the number of events processed by the NASA CARA team remained relatively stable, with some discrete increases from month to month that cannot be attributed to any specific cause. Starting in 2020, there has been a large increase in events which can be attributed to more payloads launched into the orbit regimes populated by CARA assets in addition to debris-generating events. As events increase, so does the operational workload to identify and mitigate those events having a high probability of collision.

The following plot includes identified conjunctions within screening volumes defined for each orbital regime through February 2026. These orbital regimes were designed and implemented prior to satellite megaconstellations, which have changed the orbital environment and created a need for different screening volumes to fully and consistently satisfy the capture rate requirement.

The plot below shows identified conjunctions within updated screening volumes implemented since March 2026, which are designed to capture 99% of conjunctions with Pc > 1E-4 based on the current orbital environment.