As satellites fill Earth’s orbit, the space race is at risk of becoming an environmental disaster

Our relationship with space is changing rapidly.

For almost all of human history, the space above us was an unreachable limit. Yet in one lifetime, the Earth’s orbit has gone from empty to crowded with satellites.

In the meantime, although the moon is still rare, in the next few decades it is expected to be a big prize that will be won by the world’s major powers – the US, China and Russia. Several countries have ambitious plans to return humans to the moon, and this time to stay there forever.

This week, the Guardian published a series on our changing relationship with space – from one of research to work. We’ve interviewed pioneers seeking to mine the moon, worked with astronomers to track the tens of thousands of satellites launched into Earth’s orbit, and examined the role of a United Nations agency that finds itself at the center of a political race back into space.

It’s a time of great excitement for scientists, enthusiasts and business owners. However it is also time to stop and think about our role in the environment and our responsibilities.

But first, the most important music of the week.

Important information

Focus

History is full of examples of pioneers who went to unknown frontiers, and realized later that they caused unimaginable damage to the environment that they did not fully understand.

We are already seeing the environmental problems associated with the space age of the 21st century. One study found that about 10% of the particles in the stratosphere (starting about 10km above the Earth) contain metals originating from space activities such as rocket launches. The impact is still being studied, but researchers fear it could affect the chemistry of the atmosphere and the ozone layer, which protects the planet from radiation.

A recent report by the United Nations has highlighted the environmental effects of space activities, saying that there is an “urgent need for sustainable methods to manage the possible circulation and environmental effects in all parts of the atmosphere”.

One of the most fascinating ways to see our impact on the atmosphere is to visualize the tens of thousands of man-made objects orbiting the earth. At the Guardian, we wanted readers to see for themselves how Earth’s orbit is becoming increasingly crowded with communications, weather, internet and navigation satellites.

We decided to tell this story in an immersive, interactive way that we call “scrolytelling”. In this case, the reader scrolls down the story and can see how the Earth’s orbit has become more populated over decades with additional satellites. It’s really amazing and you can see it here.

Guardian photo editor Ashley Kirk, who oversaw the project, explains how the biggest challenge was getting reliable data. “We needed data not only on satellites that are still in place now, but also satellites that have been launched, but have gone off course and been damaged,” he said.

We relied on multiple sources to provide a complete picture, and asked renowned astrophysicist, Jonathan McDowell, to review our data sources and compare them to his.

And that’s a lot of data. More than 14,000 satellites are in orbit. Space debris, often referred to as “space debris”, is also present. That includes layers of discarded rockets and the remains of defunct satellites.

Increased orbital activity has increased the risk of collisions, and there have been a few accidents. In 2007, a test of a Chinese anti-satellite weapon accidentally blew up a celestial satellite, creating a dangerous cloud of space debris. Two years later, a US satellite and a defunct Russian satellite collided, blasting about 2,000 pieces of debris.

Now tens of thousands of pieces of metal are moving at high speed. The biggest fear is that future collisions will cause a catastrophic effect in which the Earth’s orbit becomes a dangerous blast zone full of small, high-speed metal fragments.

Frederick O’Brien, a journalist and software developer at the Guardian, created the conversation from proof of concept to the final piece. It took weeks of work.

As a global society, we are constantly dependent on satellites, not only to help us get around using Google Maps, but also to provide internet access and, more importantly, weather forecasting. Space-based Earth monitoring also allows researchers to track deforestation, desertification, melting ice caps, and the spread of oil spills.

“This piece reveals a huge problem that, if left unchecked, can disrupt some of the most important human services like the internet,” says Ashley. “It’s a complex area that really needs to be seen to see how many satellites – with different altitudes, speeds and orbits – are orbiting the Earth.”

Read more: