group members contrasted that billionaire space race with the two-week Red Road to DC[1], which began during the SATCON2 workshop week, and involved the journey of a 25-foot Native American totem pole through sacred Indigenous lands from Washington state to Washington DC, highlighting historical and continuing exclusion and erasure of marginalized communities and culture.
We view this report as the beginning, rather than the end, of a conversation that is long overdue. We urge active ongoing engagement among federal agencies, private and state actors in space, professional societies and especially organizations and communities representing the diversity of stakeholders in our shared skies, so we can co-create a new, ethical, sustainable approach to space exploration rather than the current regulatory maze of siloed concerns enabling business as usual.
1.4. Common Themes and Principles
We identified common themes that recurred and resonated across the Community Engagement Working Group’s five subgroups. Collectively, the Community Engagement Working Group offers the following observations and principles:
- The skies and space belong to everyone. Space is a global commons.
- All people are impacted by changes in the sky. Nearly all consulted for SATCON2 had already noticed a dramatic rise in satellite constellation sightings in the past two years, and were worried.
- Many communities see the unchecked actions of space actors as colonization expanded to a cosmic scale during a time of global crisis.
- The sky must be considered part of the environment and the current National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) exemption for the satellite constellation industry must end.
- Ecosystems depend on the night sky and on each other.
1.5. Recommendations
The Community Engagement Working Group offers the following nine recommendations to decision-makers, regulators, the satellite industry, researchers, and all communities affected by satellite constellations.
1. Duty to consult
Satellite operators must first consult all impacted groups, including the sovereign American Indian / Alaska Native nations and global Indigenous communities, before launching satellites. Industry must fully consider the concerns of Indigenous nations, including sovereignty, transparency, written agreements, and jurisdiction of treaties in space. Space belongs to us all and we need to listen to all constituencies impacted by satellite constellations. The OST establishes space as a global commons, and the American Astronomical Society (AAS) mission statement emphasizes inclusivity, sustainability, and the importance of humanity's understanding of the Universe.
