Scientists Call For New Global Regime Regarding Air Pollution From Space Launches
Scientists are calling for a new global regime to address air pollution specifically caused by the space industry and space launches.
In 2020, Professor Eloise Marais assembled a team at the University College London (UCL) that began tracking space activities in 2020. According to their most recent figures, there were 259 rocket launches in 2024 and 223 launches in 2023. Those launches burned more than 153,000 tons of fuel.
“More pollutants are being released into the atmosphere from rockets and satellites than ever before,” Marais stated.
“We’re in uncharted territory, as humans have never added this much pollution to the upper layers of the atmosphere. If left unregulated, it may have serious impacts on Earth’s atmosphere.”
More specifically, the team found that mega-constellation communication satellites such as Starlink, OneWeb, and Thousand Sails, have “led to a threefold increase in emissions of climate-altering soot and carbon dioxide,” the Guardian reported.
While the amount of CO2 and soot from spacecraft is less than other industries, researchers are warning that particles stay in the upper atmosphere much longer than Earth-bound sources. Researchers pointed out that the pollution from space launches result in a climate warning impact that is 500 times greater than the amount of soot from aviation and ground level sources.
“The amount of propellant used to launch mega-constellations has surpassed the amount of propellant used to launch all other missions combined,” Marais said.
“The mix of pollutants produced is likely going to change in the future with the advent of Amazon Kuiper mega-constellations. They plan to use the European Space Agency’s rocket that is propelled by solid rocket fuel and produces ozone-damaging chlorine compounds.”
Dr Connor Barker from UCL stated that “many more mega-constellations are planned for launch in the next few decades, which will have significant impacts for our climate, and undo progress made by the Montreal protocol to repair the ozone layer.”
The amount of objects launched into space has also increased drastically within the last few years as well. In the 1960s and 2016, 100 to 200 objects a year were launched into space, and now thousands are launched annually and they have limited lifetimes.
“Current international law is very much related to the principles of the high seas,” said Prof Stuart Martin, the chair of trustees at the UK National Space Centre.
“The country that launched an object, owns it, and only the laws of that country apply to the object in space. This is one of the reasons why things like cleaning up are so difficult.”
Many mega-constellation satellites are re-entering the atmosphere as well. When this occurs, they vaporize into tiny, and sometimes, chemically reactive metal particles.
The team from UCL also tracked 2,539 objects burned up when the re-entered the atmosphere in 2024, and 2,016 objects in 2023. This led to 13,500 tons of material from satellites and discarded rocket parts vaporizing in our atmosphere.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
