The impact of economic activities on the environment on the largest scales has become increasingly prominent over the recent decades. The present and expected costs of the global changes prompt governments, international organizations, public opinions, and interest groups to push to reduce their environmental and societal footprint through self- and externally-imposed regulations.
The space sector is no exception. Both the public-sponsored and private-led activities must justify and reduce their negative impacts, abide by national and international regulations, and develop industrial processes that take into account future costs and taxes.
Interestingly, the space sector has long been aware of the damage that careless activities can have, whether it is about telecommunications or collision risks in low-Earth orbits.
On the other hand, space activities and in particular space-based Earth observations are critical to the understanding, monitoring, and mitigation of the human-caused and natural modifications and dangers of the planet’s climate and geological parameters. The monitoring of greenhouse gas atmospheric content, hydro- and cryosphere evolution, accidental and criminal pollutant releases into the environment, is crucial to make predictions, advising the decision-makers, and preventing harmful activities.
In this 9-day course, experts and actors of the space sector will explain how companies and space agencies tackle their environmental and societal responsibilities; how they design and conduct the Life Cycle Assessment of their products, through initiatives such as the ESA EcoDesign or at Airbus; and the research that is conducted on propellants, recycling, and
company processes to reduce their footprint. Researchers will present the methodology, capacities, limitations, and technical developments of Earth observations and their
contribution to agriculture, emergency mapping and management, and law enforcement.
The participants will also learn about the current and to-be-expected political and legal constraints, from international lecturers of space agencies, academia, and the industry, involved in the definition and promotion of a sustainable space sector.
