Hello again, JustSpace friends and followers! We hope you’re all doing well. Let’s check in on the latest news in space and social justice. 

News

JustSpace member Meredith Rawls co-authored “The case for space environmentalism”, recently published in Nature Astronomy. We asked her to expand a bit on the piece here:

“Last month, an international team of scientists published a perspective in Nature Astronomy making the case for space environmentalism. We argue that orbital space is a human environment in need of protection and preservation, and that decisions about how to use orbital space must consider cumulative impacts as well as a broad set of stakeholders. Without interventions, we are rapidly headed toward a low-Earth orbit active satellite population around 100,000 by the end of the decade.

“Most of the authors are astronomers, and we only began really paying attention to the rapid increase in low-Earth-orbit commercial satellites in the last few years when we realized it will impact our observations. Nevertheless, we recognize our concerns are part of a much larger issue, and are pleased to collaborate with aerospace engineer Moriba Jah to frame the situation succinctly and with urgency.

“The paper originated as an Amicus Brief submitted by first author Andy Lawrence to the US Court of Appeal describing why environmental assessment should be a prerequisite for commercial satellite constellation licensing. The appeal pertained to a 2011 FCC order granting license changes to Starlink satellites, and is still underway, but may potentially have broad implications for all US satellite licensing. Since our STEM colleagues don't typically search court records for new writing on space as a human environment, we decided to pursue publication with Nature.

“Beyond just affecting professional observational astronomy, we discuss the impact on public access to the sky, including that of Indigenous groups, collision impacts on space operations, and a few other often-neglected issues such as atmospheric pollution, ground and airspace collisions, animal and plant ecosystems, and space weather issues. We conclude by urging policymakers to consider the environmental impacts of all aspects of satellite constellations, including launch, operation, and deorbit.”

To Listen

You might have noticed some JustSpace voices coming across your podcast feed lately: Our co-founder Lucianne Walkowicz spoke with Shane Harris at the Chatter podcast on ethical space exploration back in March. And just this month, JustSpace Board member Nadia Khan was interviewed for an episode of the excellent Celestial Citizen podcast, on lunar surface waste management. 

To Read

Chelsea Gohd of Space.com wrote a thorough article discussing the space industry’s “big, ugly sexual harassment problem” (content warning for discussion of harassment and assault). Gohd has also written about astronomy’s issues with diversity and inclusion and the lack of support for nonbinary astronomers in the field.

JustSpace member Nick Traveglini pointed us to this excellent interview of architect Fred Scharmen about his recent book, Space Forces: A Critical History of Life in Outer Space (which we also highly recommend). Thanks, Nick!

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders penned an editorial for The Guardian protesting the government’s proposal to spend $10 billion, some of which would likely be awarded to Blue Origin, to build a second lunar lander (after Blue Origin lost out to SpaceX for the contract to build the first one). Senator Sanders chairs the senate budget committee, and he argued against what he called a “bailout” for Jeff Bezos: “When we take that next giant leap into space let us do it to benefit all of humanity, not to turn a handful of billionaires into trillionaires.” His proposed amendment to cut the $10 billion funding ultimately failed. 

Coming Soon

Later this year in October, Ellie Armstrong and JustSpace Board member Divya Persaud will be hosting their second Space Science in Context conference, a free virtual conference bringing together people interested in and who study outer space and/or its social contexts for an interactive event. Full registration will begin in August, but you can follow the link to learn more, register your interest, and request accessibility support! 

Take Action

Last year, we opened JustSpace memberships to newsletter subscribers. Our memberships are sliding scale and non-transactional (meaning pay-what-you-can), and everyone gets the same things: If you become a member, you’ll have access to our virtual community spaces, and in the future, we’ll be able to offer in-person gatherings, our upcoming podcast and video content, writing, and more. Supporting JustSpace will help us reach our mission goals by allowing us to compensate people for their time and labor for our future projects, as well as help us cover basic costs like maintaining our website, etc.

Becoming a member is simple! Check out the details here: bit.ly/JustSpaceApply, and if you still have questions, see our FAQ: bit.ly/JustSpaceMemberFAQ (or just email us, [email protected]).

Thank you so much to all of you who have applied so far! We’re excited to have you in our growing community. We’re now ready to expand our memberships beyond newsletter subscribers, so if you’ve got friends or colleagues that you think would be interested in participating, please share the membership application info and links with them! And of course, if you haven’t had the chance to apply yet, you’re always welcome to join us.