Dispossession through collision: low-Earth orbit and planetary sustainability

Abstract

ABSTRACT While the traditional concepts of sustainability and sustainable development have focused on the equitable usage of earthly resources across generations, the increasing commercial and military saturation of low-Earth orbit (LEO) highlights the need to expand this discourse to areas outside of our planet. Beginning with an overview of the outer space legal regime and its relationship to sustainability, the paper notes the increasing state reticence to forfeit sovereignty over outer space resources. Although the economic and geopolitical advantages of occupying outer space are of tremendous interest to public and private organizations, the continued proliferation of space objects in LEO could trigger a global dispossession through collision. Endorsing the concept of ‘planetary sustainability’, this article emphasizes the importance of space-based technologies in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and in reducing vulnerabilities to environmental and human health disasters. The crises facing our planet must be incentives to manage this ‘commons’ and ensure that the prosperity of this resource is broadly and equitably shared.