Space research: The key to cosmic environmental stewardship

Science and Exploration

Exploring space around us is an integral part of the human mindset. With modern astronomy we look far into the cosmos and deep into our past, while the spectacular development of Solar System exploration over the last decades taught us a lot about the “big science questions” we have about its origin, the mechanisms that drive its evolution, and the habitability of its diverse worlds. This great harvest of discoveries provided partial answers to these “big questions”, but it also opened new and deeper questions about our relation to the Cosmos that can only be answered by the next waves of exploration missions: we are still far from seeing humankind become an “interstellar species”.

While the science of the Cosmos encompasses the entire Universe, human exploration is for the time being limited to the Earth’s space environment, the Moon, Mars and asteroids. But, while more limited in its cosmic perspective, human exploration introduces new sciences and technologies in the perspective: physics and materials in micro-gravity, life sciences in space, the sciences and technologies of ecosystems, human habitats, human behavior in society, ecology and up to space law and economy. Thus, it is fair to claim that human exploration opens exploration as a whole to a broader, interdisciplinary dimension of scientific inquiries and technological challenges.

The new wave of space exploration

Human and robotic exploration are currently undergoing a major transformation, with a surge in missions to the Moon, Mars, and near-Earth asteroids and an increased emphasis on space resource exploitation and utilization. Emerging space nations and private companies are playing a growing role, boosting the deep space exploration industry. Deep space technology is advancing rapidly, often requiring global collaboration. Recent forecasts predict a surge in lunar missions, both robotic and human, laying the groundwork for future Mars exploration. Over 150 lunar missions are planned through 2034 (Brycetech 2024¹, Novaspace 2025²). Even if this figure may have to be revised in the current geopolitical context, three major elements demonstrate the reality of a strong boost for exploration that focuses on the Moon.

A first important element is the interest for space exploration of space-faring nations such as India, Japan, the United Arab Emirates and many emerging space nations. Their increasing interest represents an unprecedented stimulus.

Secondly, the two dominant lunar exploration initiatives, Artemis and the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) provide a major impetus via their broad international scope.      The Artemis Accords, a U.S.-driven initiative promoting peaceful and cooperative lunar exploration, counts at present 55 signatories.³ The science drivers of the ILRS program, an initiative led by China and Russia, are well identified and convincing and offer access to compelling science for limited costs for several new national space players and many scientific institutions.⁴ Interestingly, one country, Thailand, and several NGO’s have signed both agreements.

The third important element is the concept of commercial ventures, sometimes labeled as the “New Space Race”. A new generation of entrepreneurs and many start-up companies have turned their interest to space exploration, driven partly by a visionary motivation, and partly by the search for profitability inherent to entrepreneurship.

From space sustainability to environmental stewardship

All three elements contribute to the same goal of ultimately establishing a sustainable human presence on the Moon, an objective that will require decades of effort, robust infrastructure, and international coordination. In-situ resource utilization (ISRU) will be key to sustaining these efforts by providing the resources needed to support all types of activities, scientific, industrial, commercial and possibly touristic, on the lunar surface. This new era of space activities will need to ensure equitable sharing of these resources between various political, commercial and scientific interests, thus providing the first major practical test to the concept of space sustainability beyond Earth orbits.

However, as human presence imposes the use of local resources and the development of infrastructures, it also introduces a new threat in the exploration of celestial bodies, via its potential negative impacts on their natural environments. If we ignore them, these impacts may grow in an uncontrollable way with time. The issue of the disposal of space debris in cislunar orbital regions and on the lunar surface will require the development of sustainable end-of-life strategies for spacecraft that are the current subject of intense research.

To address this major threat, Planetary Environmental Stewardship must serve as a guiding principle for exploration and utilization. The concept of “Sustainable and Safe Lunar Activities” has been the subject of thorough investigations by numerous international bodies, including the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS), resulting in the publication of several comprehensive reports. Our current understanding of environmental impacts on the Moon and Mars is still limited, public awareness of these impacts remains low, and there is no consensus yet on the term "harmful contamination".⁵

The term is not legally defined in Article IX of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, although in the context of planetary protection those provisions in Article IX on forward and backward contamination are acknowledged and applied in exploration missions. But various studies explored sustainability, waste management and circular economies, and a growing call for visionary policies extends Earth’s sustainability principles to space, promoting an integrated "Earth-space governance" model to ensure justice, sustainability, and integrity for all life forms in a multi-planetary future.⁶ To move forward, a broad dialogue across the space ecosystem—including public stakeholders, industry, investors, and the public—is crucial for understanding and promoting planetary sustainability, considering exploration and space resource utilization interests as well as environmental and cultural heritage issues.

Authors:

P. Ehrenfreund¹, M. Blanc², N. Hedman³, T. Masson-Zwaan⁴, W. Peeters⁵, J.C. Worms^3
1 Space Policy Institute, George Washington University, Washington DC
² Research Institute in Astrophysics and Planetology (IRAP), CNRS-University Toulouse III – CNES, Toulouse, France
³ Committee on Space Research COSPAR, Paris, France
⁴ Leiden University, International Institute of Air and Space Law, The Netherlands
⁵ International Space University, Illkirch Graffenstaden, France

Footnotes

¹ https://www.weforum.org/stories/2024/07/sustainable-space-exploration-path-forward/

² https://nova.space/hub/product/prospects-for-space-exploration

³ https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-accords/

⁴ https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1dFNVSQeTto4DiDH9u2ds4ZAjzGje2Z0-XSiWyiPc8lo/edit?gid=1343837889#gid=1343837889

⁵ https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/space.2024.0041

⁶ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589811623000101?via%3Dihub