There have been some studies quantifying the pollution of launches and the potential impact of burning satellites on the higher portions of the atmosphere and the ozone layer. But it’s preliminary work and more research is needed. This is why the timing of funding cuts is the worst possible, according to nonprofit Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
“The sheer volume of atmospheric pollution from this satellite revolution is not on our national radar,” stated PEER Executive Director Tim Whitehouse, a former senior enforcement attorney with the US Environmental Protection Agency, said in a statement. “The need for inter-agency and international cooperation in addressing these space impacts is becoming urgent, just as the US has begun to retreat dramatically from climate science and global eco-coordination.”
PEER is not alone in this. The growing concern for what’s happening above our heads led to several experts and activists to start the Center For Space Environmentalism (CSE), whose goal is “to inspire, inform, and guide the preservation and protection of the space environment.”
