[CPEO-MEF] SPACE: "Scientists call for action to address air pollution from space launches"

[Lenny Siegel <Lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Scientists call for action to address air pollution from space launches
Satellite mega-constellation missions behind threefold increase in emissions of climate-altering soot and CO2

By Gary Fuller
Guardian
August 22, 2025

Scientists are calling for a new global regime to address air pollution caused by the space industry.

Prof Eloise Marais’s team at University College London (UCL) began trackingspace activities in 2020. Their latest figures reveal 259 rocket launches in 2024, and 223 launches in 2023. These burned more than 153,000 tonnes of fuel.

Marais said: “More pollutants are being released into the atmosphere from rockets and satellites than ever before. 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.”

The team found that launches of mega-constellation communication satellites, including Starlink, OneWeb and Thousand Sails, have led to a threefold increase in emissions of climate-altering soot and carbon dioxide.

…

For the entire article, see
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/22/scientists-call-for-action-air-pollution-space-launches

—

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
A project of the Pacific Studies Center
LSiegel@cpeo.org
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org
Author: DISTURBING THE WAR: The Inside Story of the Movement to Get Stanford University out of Southeast Asia - 1965–1975 (See http://a3mreunion.org)




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