Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Wait-a-Minute!
Image credit: Barbara David

Image credit: UN

In a “breakthrough” (my term) document, the United Nations environment program has grown some space legs.

A new report from them is titled “Safeguarding Space Environmental issues, risks and responsibilities.”

That group took the high road and dubbed them “Emerging Issues.”

World embrace

The report explains that the space sector is growing exponentially, with over 12,000 spacecraft deployed in the past decade and many more planned as the world embraces the benefits provided by satellite services.

“This growth presents significant environmental challenges at all layers of the atmosphere,” the report notes.

Image credit: Chelsea Thompson/NOAA

Challenges

Those ticked-off challenges include

• air pollution from launch emissions
• spacecraft emissions in the stratosphere
• spacecraft demise
• orbital debris (legacy and new)
• increased risk of collision creating more debris
• the potential to alter atmospheric chemistry and dynamics, climate change and deplete stratospheric ozone

Marine ecosystems

Moreover, they add that “objects that do not disintegrate on re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere pose threats to ground safety and marine ecosystems.”

A forthcoming intrusion into the marine ecosystem is the dumping of the International Space Station, just a few years away says NASA.

SpaceX-provided deorbiting of the International Space Station under NASA contract.
Image credit: SpaceX

Lastly, the document notes that the increase in space objects in orbit is also affecting the darkness and quietness of the sky and Earth-based astronomical observations.

“Emerging” – but years-in-the-making?

What took me back a bit is the “emerging issues” subtheme by the United Nations report.

It is a “wait a minute” moment as the UN realizes that these problems are emerging – more in the global community’s face and for many years in the making.

Captured by astronaut Don Pettit aboard the International Space Station (ISS), this long-exposure photograph showcases Earth’s city lights, the upper atmosphere’s airglow, and streaked stars. The bright flashes at the center are reflections of sunlight from SpaceX’s Starlink satellites in low-Earth orbit.
Image credit: NASA

To their credit, they conclude that a multilateral, interdisciplinary approach is needed “to better understand the risks and impacts and how to balance them with the essential daily services and benefits that space activity brings to humanity.”

That said, too little attention…too late?

For the full report – “Safeguarding Space Environmental issues, risks and responsibilities” — go to:

https://wedocs.unep.org/rest/api/core/bitstreams/c45c0309-971e-4ea8-aad3-cd2b053d394e/content

Wait-a-Minute!
Image credit: Barbara David