Related papers: The Case for Space Environmentalism
The proliferation of satellite megaconstellations in low Earth orbit (LEO) represents a significant advancement in global broadband connectivity. However, we urgently need to understand the potential environmental impacts, particularly…
We present a dynamic physico-economic model of Earth orbit use with endogenous satellite collision risk to study conditions under which debris-producing collisions between orbiting bodies result in debris growth that may render Earth's…
As orbital debris continues to become a higher priority for the space industry, there is a need to explore how partnerships between the public and private space sector may aid in addressing this issue. This research develops a space…
Astrophysics and planetary science are in crisis. The large missions we need for the next generation of observations cost too much to let us do more than one at a time. This spreads the science out onto a generational timescale, inhibiting…
Habitability is a measure of an environment's potential to support life, and a habitable exoplanet supports liquid water on its surface. However, a planet's success in maintaining liquid water on its surface is the end result of a complex…
Dozens of habitable zone, approximately earth-sized exoplanets are known today. An emerging frontier of exoplanet studies is identifying which of these habitable zone, small planets are actually habitable (have all necessary conditions for…
Society needs to prepare for more severe space weather than it has experienced in the modern technological era. To enable that, we must both quantify extreme-event characteristics and analyze impacts of lesser events that are frequent yet…
We have carried out a numerical investigation of the coupled gravitational and non-gravitational perturbations acting on Earth satellite orbits in an extensive grid, covering the whole circumterrestrial space, using an appropriately…
We study the presence of resonances in the region of space around the Earth. We consider a massless body (e.g, a dust particle or a small space debris) subject to different forces: the gravitational attraction of the geopotential, the…
The United Nations has long put on the discussion agenda the sustainability challenges of ur- banization, which have both direct and indirect effects on future regulation strategies. Undoubtedly, most initiatives target better quality of…
Ozone ($\textrm{O}_3$) is important for the survival of life on Earth because it shields the surface from ionising ultraviolet (UV) radiation. However, the existence of $\textrm{O}_3$ in Earth's atmosphere is not always beneficial.…
As of 2025, over 6000 planets are known to orbit stars other than our Sun. We can measure their sizes and orbital periods, infer their masses and temperatures, and constrain their compositions. Based on these data, about 1% of extrasolar…
The search for extrasolar Earth-like planets is underway. Over 100 extrasolar giant planets are known to orbit nearby sun-like stars, including several in multiple-planet systems. These planetary systems are stepping stones for the search…
The carbon footprint of astronomical research is an increasingly topical issue. From a comparison of existing literature, we infer an annual per capita carbon footprint of several tens of tonnes of CO$_2$ equivalents for an average person…
Determining planetary habitability is a complex matter, as the interplay between a planet's physical and atmospheric properties with stellar insolation has to be studied in a self consistent manner. Standardized atmospheric models for…
Various ``cosmic shorelines" have been proposed to delineate which planets have atmospheres. The fates of individual planet atmospheres may be set by a complex sea of growth and loss processes, driven by unmeasurable environmental factors…
The current progress in the detection of terrestrial type exoplanets has opened a new avenue in the characterization of exoplanetary atmospheres and in the search for biosignatures of life with the upcoming ground-based and space missions.…
October 1957, and the successful launch of Sputnik 1 into Earth orbit, marked the dawn of the Space Age. The first of the 'fellow travellers' - humanity's first artificial satellite - orbited for a mere three months before re-entering the…
The influence of a galaxy's environment on its evolution has been studied and compared extensively in the literature, although differing techniques are often used to define environment. Most methods fall into two broad groups: those that…
The space radiation environment is a complex combination of fast-moving ions derived from all atomic species found in the periodic table. The energy spectrum of each ion species varies widely but is prominently in the range of 400 - 600…