IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i21p9431-d1510224.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Quantifying the Environmental Impacts of Manufacturing Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellite Constellations

Author

Listed:
  • Sritharan Thirumalai Kumaran

    (UCL Centre for Systems Engineering, Department of Space and Climate Physics, University College London, 3 Taviton St., London WC1H 0BT, UK)

  • Chekfoung Tan

    (UCL Centre for Systems Engineering, Department of Space and Climate Physics, University College London, 3 Taviton St., London WC1H 0BT, UK)

  • Michael Emes

    (UCL Centre for Systems Engineering, Department of Space and Climate Physics, University College London, 3 Taviton St., London WC1H 0BT, UK)

Abstract

The growing amount of space debris in the low Earth orbit poses a danger to manned as well as uncrewed missions. Additionally, the new business model of providing internet from space is emerging among new space players, making low Earth orbit more crowded. These factors have encouraged the space community to focus on sustainability in space. Satellite manufacturers typically have the capability to perform complete life cycle analysis (LCA) on their own products based on the manufacturing data. However, there is a lack of a method for non-manufacturers such as environmentalists and the general public to predict the carbon footprint of satellite manufacturing using a subsystem-level mass budget. Hence, this paper presents a method to quantify environmental pollution caused by the production of satellite constellations. Starlink is taken as a case study in this paper, and mass budget is predicted based on space systems engineering budget estimation techniques, the parametric method, and Federal Communication Commission orbital data. With the budget table used as an input, space-specific life cycle assessment is performed based on European Space Agency’s life cycle inventory database. Finally, the single score for Starlink constellation version 1 was found to be 76 kilo points. This signifies the annual environmental load. These results could be helpful in obtaining an overview of the environmental effects of the production phase of satellite constellations. Further, the results could act as a foundation for further research on implementing more circular approach practices on Earth as well as in space.

Suggested Citation

  • Sritharan Thirumalai Kumaran & Chekfoung Tan & Michael Emes, 2024. "Quantifying the Environmental Impacts of Manufacturing Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Satellite Constellations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-22, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:21:p:9431-:d:1510224
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/21/9431/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/21/9431/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Wesley Ingwersen & Heriberto Cabezas & Anne V. Weisbrod & Tarsha Eason & Bayou Demeke & Xin Ma & Troy R. Hawkins & Seung-Jin Lee & Jane C. Bare & Manuel Ceja, 2014. "Integrated Metrics for Improving the Life Cycle Approach to Assessing Product System Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-28, March.
    2. Badr Moutik & John Summerscales & Jasper Graham-Jones & Richard Pemberton, 2023. "Life Cycle Assessment Research Trends and Implications: A Bibliometric Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-45, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rawlings, E.Soraya & Barrera-Martinez, J.C. & Rico-Ramirez, Vicente, 2020. "Fisher information calculation in a complex ecological model: An optimal control-based approach," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 416(C).
    2. Peter Tarne & Marzia Traverso & Matthias Finkbeiner, 2017. "Review of Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment and Potential for Its Adoption at an Automotive Company," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-23, April.
    3. Sergiy Smetana & Christine Tamásy & Alexander Mathys & Volker Heinz, 2015. "Sustainability and regions: sustainability assessment in regional perspective," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(4), pages 163-186, November.
    4. Barbara Klemczak & Beata Kucharczyk-Brus & Anna Sulimowska & Rafał Radziewicz-Winnicki, 2024. "Historical Evolution and Current Developments in Building Thermal Insulation Materials—A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-30, November.
    5. Dominika Siwiec & Wiesław Frącz & Andrzej Pacana & Grzegorz Janowski & Łukasz Bąk, 2024. "Analysis of the Ecological Footprint from the Extraction and Processing of Materials in the LCA Phase of Lithium-Ion Batteries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-19, June.
    6. Stanisław Bodziacki & Mateusz Malinowski & Stanisław Famielec & Anna Krakowiak-Bal & Zuzanna Basak & Maria Łukasiewicz & Katarzyna Wolny-Koładka & Atılgan Atılgan & Ozan Artun, 2024. "Environmental Assessment of Energy System Upgrades in Public Buildings," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-18, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:21:p:9431-:d:1510224. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.