India is developing a plan to improve its ability to protect satellites from attacks, people familiar with the matter said, after a near miss in orbit highlighted risks to national security posed by other spacecraft. Satellites also played a significant role during India’s conflict with rival Pakistan in May, which put the nations on the brink of all-out war. The near miss in mid-2024 involved one of Indian space agency ISRO’s satellites orbiting around 500-600 kilometers (311-373 miles) above the Earth, the same part of space that’s getting increasingly crowded with communications satellites such as Elon Musk’s Starlink network. That satellite plan could be used to secure borders, neutralize adversarial assets and help in intelligence gathering, according to Chaitanya Giri, fellow at the Observer Research Foundation think tank. Pakistan has just eight satellites, compared with more than 100 for India, according to data from N2Y0.com, a website that tracks such spacecraft.