Visions of, and steps towards, an Environmentally Sustainable Space Future

Space systems are critical infrastructure, providing vital data and services, including monitoring and responding to the impacts of climate change, supporting disaster response, and providing communication and navigation services (O’Connor et al., 2020). However, our orbital environment is becoming congested, and the increasing frequency of spacecraft launches is driving terrestrial impact (Wilson et al., 2022). Many proposed solutions are reactionary – focusing on immediate priorities. However, all impacts are interlinked, requiring holistic assessment by varied stakeholders to reduce unintended consequences. A long-term vision can drive developments to mitigate negative impacts, enhance critical benefits, and deliver a sustainable future in space.

This project will propose a set of holistic assessment criteria suitable for application to space missions, based on the key environmental impact areas of the space industry.

In this project, we will engage a variety of stakeholder perspectives in the appraisal of alternative future visions of the space industry using a novel scenarios workshop method to open up and broaden out the issue (Bellamy & Healey, 2018). This pilot will lay the groundwork for larger scale workshops across a broader cross-section of people, including the general public. Alongside this, we will develop a holistic model of identified impacts – positive and negative – and links between them. Possible mitigation strategies will be considered in light of both stakeholder evaluation as well as technical risk and complexity to highlight preferable strategies for future investigation.

Bellamy, R. and Healey, P., 2018. ‘Slippery slope’ or ‘uphill struggle’? Broadening out expert scenarios of climate engineering research and development. Environmental Science & Policy, 83, pp. 1-10. doi: 10.1016/j.envsci.2018.01.021

O’Connor, B., Moul, K., Pollini, B., de Lamo, X., Simonson, W., Allison, H., Albrecht, F., Guzinski, M., Larsen, H. and McGlade, J., 2020. Earth Observation for SDG—Compendium of Earth Observation Contributions to the SDG Targets and Indicators. ESA: Harwell, UK. Available: https://eo4society.esa.int/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/EO_Compendium-for-SDGs.pdf

Wilson, A.R., Vasile, M., Maddock, C.A. and Baker, K.J., 2022. Ecospheric life cycle impacts of annual global space activities. Science of the Total Environment, 834,155305. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.155305