A sustainable outer Space for a future on Earth. Outer Space, space debris and technologies

Authors

  • Lucilla Spini Linacre College (Oxford)

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.19229/2464-9309/8152020

Keywords:

outer space, technologies, space debris, environment, 2030 agenda

Abstract

Satellites and space objects made life on Earth easier during the Covid-19 pandemic, thanks to the use of digital technologies that have enabled to maintain personal, social and work relationships. A complex system that is articulated in outer Space which appears clean and uncontaminated in the collective imagination, but which is crowded and polluted with space debris that can compromise much of the activities that we depend on. The paper analyzes this context from the point of view of international agreements on outer Space and recent activities pertaining the mitigation and remediation of space debris, towards promoting the issue of sustainability in outer Space with an integrated approach to sustainability on Earth, also to consider outer Space and its resources as ‘natural capital’ and ‘human environment’ within the 2030 Agenda.

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Author Biography

Lucilla Spini, Linacre College (Oxford)

Bio-Anthropologist and DPhil,  she is an Old Member of Linacre College. She has worked in the United Nations System (UNESCO, FAO, UNU) and in NGOs within the framework of activities related to scientific cooperation (including Space research) and multilateral negotiations such those for the 2030 Agenda. She has been Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School and the European University Institute, as well as Adjunct Professor at the McMaster University.
E-mail: lucilla.spini@orange.fr

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ESA Clean Space: active space debris removal (credit: ESA). AGATHÓN 08 | 2020

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Published

27-12-2020

How to Cite

Spini, L. (2020) “A sustainable outer Space for a future on Earth. Outer Space, space debris and technologies”, AGATHÓN | International Journal of Architecture, Art and Design, 8(online), pp. 160–167. doi: 10.19229/2464-9309/8152020.