majority of the Earth’s population and the indulgences of some of the richest men in the world, as if the wealthy were literally escaping a planet on fire by means unavailable to most people. Others drew parallels between the current space race, including the development of satellite constellations, and the long history of colonial imperialism over the last millennium: the new natural resource up for grabs is space itself, to be exploited and capitalized by the highest bidders and the quickest and largest private corporations.
International legal and philosophical conception of the need to protect space for all humanity was enshrined, soon after the advent of the Space Age, in the OST. The OST lays the foundation for peaceful international cooperation and universal access to space, but it contains no explicit reference to the need for environmental protection against harm from human activities in space. More than 50 years later, facing the prospect of a rapid and manifold expansion and commercialization of activity in space, the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) issued the first Guidelines for the Long-Term Sustainability of Outer Space Activities of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN COPUOS 2021). Guideline A.2 reads in part:
- In developing, revising or amending, as necessary, national regulatory frame- works, States and international intergovernmental organizations should...:
- b: Implement space debris mitigation measures, such as the Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, through applicable mechanisms;
- c: Address, to the extent practicable, risks to people, property, public health and the environment associated with the launch, in-orbit operation and re-entry of space objects;
Gilbert & Vidaurri (2021) study existing national and international case law and conclude that consideration of the NEPA should be applied to space activities — contrary to the practice of the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which is to disregard environmental impacts when considering applications by satellite operators for licenses to launch and operate satellite constellations. Sutherland (2021) describes the process by which NASA applies NEPA, in contrast to the FCC. Cirkovic (2021a,b) argues for a new “cosmolegal” conception of space and space law that recognizes the limitations of traditional terrestrial legal frameworks and the potential risks from overcrowding of orbits, space debris, and possible contamination of other planets by human activity in space. Comparisons between the problems of space debris, satellite constellations, and climate change become even more concrete given the prediction that increasing levels of atmospheric CO2 will reduce drag on LEO satellites, making them stay in orbit longer (O’Callaghan, 2021).
Thus there is growing concern about the environmental impacts of satellite constellations, and precedent for implementing regulation and national and international law to control, mitigate, minimize, or eliminate those impacts.
6.2. Environmental harm from satellite constellations
Environmental harm from satellite constellations occurs during all three phases of satellite constellation lifetimes. Below we summarize the major impacts we found in the literature and from our discussions.
