Satellite mega‑constellation launches could drive half of space sector's climate impact

A study by researchers at University College London projects that launches for satellite mega‑constellations—such as SpaceX’s Starlink and Amazon’s Project Leo—will account for about 42 % of the space sector’s total climate impact by the end of the decade. The analysis, published in *Earth’s Future*, attributes the outsized effect to black‑carbon soot from rocket engines and discarded rocket bodies, which linger in the upper atmosphere for years and have a warming potential up to 500 times greater than ground‑based sources. Lead author Eloise Marais warned that "the pollution of the space industry is like a small‑scale, unregulated geo‑engineering experiment with potentially serious unintended consequences" and stressed the need for regulation before the problem becomes harder to reverse.

Separately, climate scientist Chris Rapley urged that humanity treat Earth as a closed life‑support system, comparable to the strict environmental controls required on a spacecraft. He argued that the same rigor applied to space missions should be adopted for planetary stewardship, calling for new narratives and policies to prevent continued degradation of oceans, soils and biodiversity.