Satellite growth is creating escalating orbital-debris, safety, environmental, legal, and security risks without effective international regulation.

In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Samantha Lawler discuss what satellites are, why there are so many in orbit, and why they are such a problem. She discusses the risk of reentry of the satellites (or pieces of said satellites), including the falling debris that happened recently in Canada, with additional debris falling in Poland and the United States. Samantha also discusses the gaps in government oversight and gives some potential solutions for the future.

Key Takeaways:

• Most satellites in orbit are owned by one private company, owned by one billionaire. 11,000 of the over 17,000 satellites currently in orbit are owned by Starlink.

• The Outer Space Treaty, which came together back during the Apollo Space Race days, is now outdated. At the time, really only countries were involved, but now there are more private companies that are working in space. The treaty does not account for potential changing liabilities.

• While the US Space Force does track satellites and publish their orbits, this does not account for all satellites, including private satellites or those that are launched in bigger batches, as it takes time to measure and catalogue.

• There are more than 2 million planned satellites. That is too many to have in orbit at the same time safely.

"Scientists have measured the dust in the upper atmosphere, and it has metal in it already from satellite and rocket reentries. So we are changing the composition of the atmosphere with all of these reentries. We don't know what that is going to do." — Dr. Samantha Lawler

Episode References:

• Too many satellites? Earth's orbit is on track for a catastrophe – but we can stop it: https://research.bond.edu.au/en/publications/too-many-satellites-earths-orbit-is-on-track-for-a-catastrophe-bu/

Connect with Dr. Samantha Lawler

Professional Bio: https://www.uregina.ca/science/physics/directory/faculty/samantha-lawler.html

Research: https://uregina.ca/~slb861/pub.html

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-lawler-bb777a159/

Connect with Therese:

Website: www.criticallyspeaking.net

Bluesky: @CriticallySpeaking.bsky.social

Instagram: @criticallyspeakingpodcast

Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net

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