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Planetary Sustainability

planetary sustainability
Left: Planet Earth from Space. Right: Proposed 18th UN Sustainable Development Goal Space Environment

Our space environment is being used more and more intensively, mega constellations are beginning to light up the night sky and disrupt astronomy. Junk is accumulating in the more heavily used Earth orbits, increasing the risk of a cascade effect which renders space-faring impossible. Meanwhile, several countries now want to go to the Moon, and this time plan to use its resources.
As our time on Earth is limited, we need to be able to move. But we need ethical guidelines in the area of outer space, which is an international domain, especially because the law remains open to interpretation.
Moreover, we need to link the issues of sustainable space use with the environmental debate here on Earth: we should develop the outline for an 18th Sustainable Development Goal for our space environment.

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