The importance of sustainable space exploration in the 21st century

In 1957, the Space Age began with the launch of Sputnik, the first artificial satellite. Since then, the number of objects humans have hurled toward the stars has soared to the thousands. As those objects have collided with one another, they've created more space debris in Earth's orbit. According to some estimates, all of that debris and human-made space trash, the number of objects — from satellites to screws — could be in the millions.

This debris has to be tracked to avoid collisions, which can force the International Space Station (ISS) to be redirected, disrupting pre-planned initiatives like space walks. A collision with space debris as small as 1 cm could penetrate ISS shields, harming the station. And the more objects we launch into orbit, the denser the traffic becomes to navigate.

One potential solution? Apply ideas of green sustainability to the companies and governments that do the launching, says Danielle Wood, an assistant professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT.

As part of Short Wave's AAAS live show series, Danielle sat down with co-host Aaron Scott to talk about a vision of sustainability in space. The effort begins with the Space Sustainability Rating (SSR), an incentive system modeled after LEED certifications for green buildings. The system is multifaceted, considering aspects like collision preparedness, information sharing and future debris reductions. At least one company has already applied for and received a certification using the SSR. That initial rating was bronze, the lowest of four possible ratings.

"In some ways, I was pleased that our first rating was low because it means we are all saying there's more to work to do and to grow," says Wood. For her, the initial rating is simply the entry point for an ongoing conversation with outside companies in the booming space industry. A company's rating is changeable based on their ongoing missions and efforts. The goals is for companies to increasingly own the social responsibility of being major players influencing the future of space exploration and technology.

"We've been dreaming for years of things like space robots being able to build space stations that humans can go visit. Such things are being now going from the dreaming stage to the venture capital stage. ... As we make these dreams a reality, let's be so thoughtful about the possible long term implications of our actions," says Wood.

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This episode was produced by Berly McCoy, edited by Rebecca Ramirez and fact checked by Brit Hanson. Josh Newell engineered the audio.