Understanding space sustainability

Space debris. Image courtesy Shutterstock/Dragon Claws

The concept of space sustainability is often narrowly understood as solely an issue of orbital debris. But treating it that way is a strategic mistake. In reality, it is far broader and more interconnected, encompassing how space technologies support sustainability on Earth, how we preserve the space environment itself, and how we minimise the environmental footprint of space activities.

By Alexis Martin, CEO, River Advisers

Alexis Martin, CEO, River Advisers

A three-dimensional question

To fully grasp why space sustainability matters—and why it can no longer be ignored—it is useful to distinguish three complementary dimensions of sustainability.

1. Sustainability from Space: Space systems play a vital role in addressing some of the most pressing global challenges on Earth. In this sense, sustainability from space refers to the use of space‑based assets as platforms to directly or indirectly support environmental protection, climate action, and societal resilience.

Satellite data underpins disaster monitoring and management, enabling early warning, rapid damage assessment, and coordinated emergency response. Earth observation missions support the monitoring of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, track deforestation, detect illegal mining activities, and contribute to sustainable land and resource management. Without reliable and continuous access to space‑based data, many national and international sustainability objectives would be unattainable.

Ironically, the benefits of sustainability from space depend entirely on the long‑term availability and safety of the space environment itself—creating an intrinsic link to the other dimensions of sustainability.

2. Sustainability in Space: Sustainability in space focuses on treating outer space as a finite and valuable natural resource that must be preserved while being responsibly utilised and explored.

This includes mitigating space debris, improving space situational awareness, and developing robust space traffic management approaches to safely operate in increasingly congested orbits. It also encompasses the efficient and coordinated use of radio frequencies and orbital slots, which are essential yet limited resources.

Beyond physical congestion, sustainability in space increasingly involves ensuring the physical and cyber resilience of space systems, monitoring space weather, enabling in‑orbit servicing and life‑extension, and protecting dark and quiet skies for science and astronomy. Emerging discussions now extend this perspective to sustainable cislunar activities, as interest in the Moon and its surrounding space accelerates.

This dimension challenges space actors to look beyond individual missions and consider collective, long‑term stewardship of the orbital environment.

3. Sustainability for Space: The third dimension—often the least discussed—concerns protecting the terrestrial environment from the impacts of space activities.

Launching, operating, and disposing of space systems has environmental consequences on Earth. Atmospheric impacts from satellite re‑entry, including the release of particulate matter and chemical by‑products, are gaining increased attention. Design‑for‑demise principles aim to ensure satellites burn up safely during re‑entry, while ecodesign approaches and lifecycle assessments seek to minimise environmental harm across the full duration of a space mission—from manufacturing to disposal.

As launch rates increase and large constellations cycle through shorter lifetimes, sustainability for space activities becomes a critical part of the broader environmental equation.

The challenge is that efforts to advance sustainability from space can inadvertently affect the other two dimensions, although this trade-off is not always fully considered.

This is precisely why space sustainability must be addressed holistically, rather than reduced to a narrow focus on debris mitigation.

Protecting the terrestrial environment from the impacts of space activities. Image courtesy Wix

Space sustainability is a business issue

Space sustainability has long been considered as a someone else’s ethical problem. Ignoring space sustainability is not only irresponsible—it is commercially risky.

Operational Risk: As orbital environments become more congested, operators face increasing operational challenges. Collision probabilities rise, fuel consumption grows due to avoidance manoeuvres, and satellite lifetimes are reduced. Policymakers are also making the connection explicit. The EU Space Act, for instance, links environmental sustainability with physical and cyber resilience, as well as the continuity of critical space services. Debris-rich orbits heighten the risk of service interruptions, inadequate end-of-life planning weakens long-term system integrity, and insufficient traffic coordination undermines availability guarantees.

Financial Risk: There is a clear financial dimension to these challenges. Insurers are already factoring sustainability practices into their underwriting decisions, meaning that weak debris mitigation strategies can result in higher premiums—or even render missions uninsurable.

Reputational Risk: Reputational considerations are also becoming more material. Customers, investors, and partners are increasingly scrutinising environmental and governance practices, and space sustainability is rapidly becoming part of the broader ESG conversation. Insurers are tightening their assessment of operational risk, investors are integrating sustainability criteria into space portfolios, and government and institutional customers are favouring operators aligned with emerging sustainability norms.

Regulatory Risk: At the same time, regulatory pressure is accelerating. Governments and regulators are moving from soft guidance to enforceable requirements. Companies that fail to anticipate these shifts may face delayed licensing, operational constraints, or loss of market access.

Sustainability practices may influence licensing timelines, operational approvals, and enforcement oversight

Taken together, these three dimensions demonstrate that space sustainability is neither a niche concern nor a purely technical issue. It is a systemic challenge that brings together orbital safety, environmental responsibility, long-term commercial viability, and the global public interest. Recognising this broader context is the first step toward meaningful action.

There is now a transition from voluntary norms to binding regulatory requirements. Image courtesy Wix

Sustainability is becoming law, not guidance

For many years, space sustainability has been shaped primarily by voluntary frameworks—UN guidelines on the long-term sustainability of outer space, non-binding best practices, and industry-led commitments. While these have played an important role in raising awareness, they have largely relied on goodwill rather than enforceability.

What is now emerging is a fundamental shift: the transition from voluntary norms to binding regulatory requirements. This shift is one of the most powerful drivers of change in industry behaviour, as space sustainability is no longer optional—it is becoming mandatory.

The European Union has taken a decisive step in this direction with the introduction of the EU Space Act. Its scope is deliberately broad, applying not only to EU-based operators but also to non-EU space service providers offering services into the European market. It establishes a framework for authorisation, registration, and ongoing supervision, while elevating environmental sustainability to a core regulatory pillar alongside safety and resilience. In doing so, it moves sustainability firmly out of the realm of soft guidance and into enforceable obligations.

Crucially, environmental sustainability is not treated as a separate or external consideration. It is directly embedded into operational and system-level requirements, including debris mitigation and safe end-of-life disposal, collision avoidance and space traffic management, responsible constellation design and operation, and broader lifecycle and environmental impact considerations.

This marks a profound change. Market access and sustainability are becoming increasingly intertwined, with regulatory compliance directly tied to how responsibly systems are designed, deployed, and operated.

The “Voice of the Industry”

These are not just our own views, these are backed up by a survey that River Advisers shared across a diverse range of players including satellite manufacturers, launch service providers, national regulators, GSO/NGSO telecom operators, ground segment as a service providers, Earth exploration/scientific companies and companies going to the Moon.

Awareness and understanding of space sustainability

A consistent finding across all respondent groups is that awareness of space sustainability remains limited and uneven. While most companies are familiar with space debris mitigation, awareness drops significantly for more recent or emerging topics such as Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) and eco-design, Dark & Quiet Skies, Space Situational Awareness (SSA) & Space Traffic Management (STM), and In-Space Operations and Services (ISOS).

This pattern is particularly evident among start-ups and even some larger companies, where knowledge is often described as basic or fragmentary, and sometimes varies between internal teams (e.g. legal vs engineering).

Overall, the industry appears to be in an early learning phase, where sustainability is recognised conceptually but not yet fully understood in operational or regulatory terms. This creates an important gap between high-level awareness and practical implementation.

Impact, priorities, and strategic importance

Despite limited awareness, companies clearly recognise that space sustainability has a significant impact on their activities—especially in legal compliance, engineering, and operations.

The survey highlights a core group of topics that are consistently viewed as high priority, including:

• Space debris mitigation

• SSA & STM

• In-space servicing and circular space economy

• LCA and eco-design

However, there is a notable disconnect: many of these high-priority topics are also those where awareness is weakest.

This suggests that companies understand the strategic importance and future impact of sustainability, but lack the detailed knowledge needed to act effectively. Sustainability is therefore seen less as a proactive business driver and more as a risk or compliance issue that will need to be addressed.

The survey shows that the space sector is at a transitional stage in its approach to sustainability. Companies acknowledge its importance and future impact, but lack the awareness, regulatory understanding, and clarity of needs required to act decisively.

Conclusion

Space sustainability is no longer a peripheral concern. It is becoming a defining factor in how the sector operates and evolves. What was once viewed as a technical or environmental issue is now firmly embedded in strategic, regulatory, and commercial decision-making.

For industry players, the implications are clear:

• Sustainability will shape market access

• It will influence financing conditions

• It will determine long-term competitiveness

However, the market and the sustainability initiatives are not yet driven by strong demand, but by a need for education, positioning, and structured engagement to bridge the gap between awareness and implementation.

Those who anticipate this shift and integrate sustainability into their core strategy will not only mitigate risk but position themselves for durable growth. Those who do not may find themselves increasingly constrained not just by regulation, but by the expectations of investors, partners, and the wider ecosystem.

In this context, space sustainability is no longer optional. It is a licence to operate; and a lever for leadership.