https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/10/1129207
https://www.worldspaceweek.org/theme/
Sustainability- World Space Week Theme for 2022 to Address Technological Development
The space industry is heating up, and is supported by companies and governments worldwide. This week is World Space Week, and the theme is sustainability. Our Earth’s orbit is functionally polluted with debris that is dangerous to travels and development, and we need to find answers while committing to reducing the impact of the space industry.
Space technology is often seen as being only in the purview of aerospace engineering and astronauts. With the industry expanding every year, it is actually to the benefit of all professions, crafts and human endeavors. Like the Industrial Revolution at the turn of the century, there is promise, but the negative externalities on society must be considered as they are real. In this new Industrial Revolution that will center on the heavens evolves, we need to consider sustainable practices in our deployment and manufacturing.
Technology and innovation follow opportunity. Space is where we are expanding into as a species, and the technology that is being developed for these opportunities will bleed over into every sphere of our lives.
I have written several articles lately about how firms and governments will take advantage of these opportunities, and applications for space technology. The exciting aspect of space technology-development is that is can be applied to solve issues all over the world. The drawback is that the Earth’s orbit is filling up with dangerous debris, and pollution is accumulating on Earth from the industry as well. We need to address this through sustainability initiatives and to support this growing field, we need to enforce it.
As companies including SpaceX push for space exploration, we need to develop support organization technologies to ensure our traveler’s safety. We also need to develop sustainable launch vehicle and rover technologies and we need more robust and powerful energy sources for our vehicles.
World Space Week is this week from October 4th-10th, and the theme is “space and Sustainability”. Space is being littered with debris, and this is seen in our orbit. In order to foster and grow our technology for space exploration, we need to ensure we are acting in a sustainable way. The goals of our space development programs have been laid out including “Sustainable Development Goals” or SDGs which address our need to use and develop space technology to reduce pollution, address climate change and preserve agriculture.
Sustainability in space programs must not be overlooked. If we misuse our ability to produce and cross-pollinate these new developments as the result of space-industry technology development, we will impede space travel itself. Manufacturing of space industry-technology produces pollution, and space debris is a huge issue. We need to enforce SDGs, and this year’s World Space Week supports this notion.
With all the promise that space travel presents, the risk of pollution on Earth and in orbit is real. My suggestion is to empower scientists and engineers, and to present incentives to meeting SDGs. We need governments and private industry to partner and develop space technology together. So many new and tangential technologies will be created during the new space race and all industries from automotive, health, aerospace and many more. We have much to gain if we decide to make our goals sustainable through measurable goals.
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