Space Industry Emissions Threaten Climate Progress, Experts Warn

As of August 2025, the space industry's environmental impact has reached alarming levels, according to a new report from researchers at University College London (UCL). Their analysis reveals that satellite mega-constellation missions, including Starlink, OneWeb, and Thousand Sails, have led to a threefold increase in emissions of climate-altering soot and carbon dioxide.

The UCL team tracked 259 rocket launches in 2024 and 223 launches in 2023, which collectively burned more than 153,000 tonnes of fuel. Prof. Eloise Marais warned that "more pollutants are being released into the atmosphere from rockets and satellites than ever before," adding that "if left unregulated, it may have serious impacts on Earth's atmosphere."

While the overall amount of CO2 and soot from spacecraft is still far less than other industries, the researchers caution that these particles remain in the upper atmosphere much longer, resulting in up to 500 times greater climate warming impact than the same amount of emissions from aviation or ground-level sources.

Dr. Connor Barker from UCL emphasized that "many more mega-constellations are planned for launch in the next few decades, which will have significant impacts for our climate, and undo progress made by the Montreal protocol to repair the ozone layer." The team is now calling for a new global regime to address the growing air pollution caused by the rapidly expanding space industry.