Life cycle assessment as a tool for sustainable space activity in Aotearoa New Zealand

Dhopade, Priyanka and Nieke, Philipp and Mankelow, Cody and Reguyal, Febelyn and Morris, Adam and Wilson, Andrew (2023) Life cycle assessment as a tool for sustainable space activity in Aotearoa New Zealand. Advances in Space Research, 72 (7). pp. 2936-2947. ISSN 0273-1177 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asr.2023.01.055)

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Abstract

New Zealand’s space sector is at the early stages of growth but already attracts 1.5% of global private investment in space and contributes NZD 1.75 billion per year in revenue to the national economy. Growth has in part been due to the country’s desirable location for space operations due to a combination of geographic advantages, with its clear seas and skies and access to a wide range of launch angles, a skilled workforce, and strong government financial incentives. There are however challenges to future space activities such as the risk to long-term access and use of Earth’s orbital environment, specifically from space debris and a growing challenge to the whole-of-life of space operations, from the climate emergency and biodiversity crises. Consequently, there is increasing global motivation and urgency to quantify environmental consequences of space activities, which have historically been omitted from legislative and regulatory requirements. This paper provides a summary of the commercial development of New Zealand’s space sector and where appropriate environmental regulation and legislation may have been overlooked, as well as outlining broader environmental concerns of space operations. New Zealand’s emerging space industry offers a unique opportunity to integrate international best practices for environment and sustainability at a foundational level, for example, the European Space Agency’s Clean Space Initiative and their Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Tool and Eco-design Framework. These types of tools provide valuable sources of information to support policy and business decisions. This paper provides a case study for an environmental LCA for a New Zealand designed and launched CubeSat which is the most launched satellite type from New Zealand. The case study indicates how the LCA can be used to identify environmental hotspots during the preliminary and detailed design phases as well as the launch event. Barriers and gaps in data collection have also been identified. As a result of this work, a set of recommendations have been made for further research requirements on the application of LCA to space activities.

ORCID iDs

Dhopade, Priyanka, Nieke, Philipp, Mankelow, Cody, Reguyal, Febelyn, Morris, Adam and Wilson, Andrew ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0215-6669;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)