British satellite company Inmarsat warned on Tuesday of the environmental risks of unregulated space sector expansion.
Inmarsat chief executive Rajeev Suri has welcomed the increase in innovation in satellite constellations in low orbit that has taken place over the last few years, but called for better industry and regulatory co-ordination as they are launched.
Addressing the Royal Aeronautical Society’s conference ‘Towards a Space Enabled Net Zero Earth’, Suri focused attention on major factors threatening long-term environmental and economic sustainability.
"Mega-constellations are talking about tens of thousands of new satellites during this decade - satellites with an expected life of only five to 10 years," he said.
"The resulting debris creates hazards not just in a particular orbit, but for anything passing through that orbit. We simply do not yet understand all the risks this creates and do not yet have all the technologies needed...