A recent report by the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) is sounding the alarm on the environmental impact of low-Earth-orbit satellites, particularly those operated by StarLink, a satellite internet service owned by SpaceX and led by Elon Musk.
The report, titled “WasteX—Environmental Harms of Satellite Internet Mega-Constellations,” highlights the rapid growth of satellite launches in recent years, with the number of satellites in orbit increasing by nearly 127 times in just five years. This proliferation of satellites has raised concerns about the lack of regulation governing their launch and disposal, as well as the potential environmental harm caused by the increasing amount of space debris.
Lucas Rockett Gutterman, the director of PIRG’s Designed to Last campaign, is the author of the report. He emphasizes that the goal of the report is not to limit internet access, but to bring attention to the need for sustainable and responsible practices in the satellite industry.
“We want to connect people to the internet, but we don’t want to create a mess that will take hundreds of years to clean up,” Gutterman says. “We should look before we leap and make sure the technologies we’re using are safe for the environment and sustainable.”
The report specifically targets StarLink, which has launched over 6,000 satellites into low Earth orbit since 2018. The company is authorized to launch up to 40,000 satellites, although it claims it may not need to deploy that many to achieve its coverage goals.
Moriba Jah, a professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Texas at Austin and who works on the website Wayfinder.Privateer, which tracks nearly every object currently circling the globe, notes that the scale of satellite launches is staggering. “We’re tracking around 50,000 objects in space, and about 40,000 of those are pieces of garbage,” he says. “Elon owns over half of all of humanity’s working satellites, with around 6,000 of them belonging to StarLink.”
Jah’s comments highlight the need for greater regulation and oversight of the satellite industry, particularly as it continues to grow and expand. The PIRG report is a call to action for policymakers and industry leaders to prioritize sustainability and environmental responsibility in the development of satellite technology.
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