Climate change poses significant risks to satellites operating in low Earth orbit (LEO), as outlined by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The ongoing rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide is expected to compress higher layers of the atmosphere, resulting in lower temperatures in the thermosphere, stratosphere, and mesosphere. This atmospheric contraction leads to decreased atmospheric drag on orbital debris, causing increased retention of space junk in LEO. As a result, the growing density of satellite launches—exceeding the total number of the previous six decades within the last five years—will exacerbate collision risks with this debris. Simulations projecting scenarios up to 2100 indicate that rising greenhouse gas concentrations will diminish LEO capacity and complicate satellite deployment and operation. These developments underscore the urgent need for preemptive actions to achieve ecological sustainability in space operations, as the escalation of space debris poses a direct threat to future satellite functionality and, consequently, critical global communications and navigation systems.
