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Orbital Development: its Economic and Environmental Effects
Isaac A Gans
School of Engineering, University of British Columbia
APSC 176 Engineering Communication
Dr. Natalie Forssman
December 7, 2022
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Abstract
In the last decade the amount of interest in space has grown in tandem with the amount
of orbital launches, and it is for this reason that one must examine what will be done in space
once the publicity has dried up. The most likely prevalent activities to take place in orbit in the
near future all relate to the manufacturing of products for use in orbit and on earth, the benefits
of which would improve the economy and quality of life of the general public. The industries and
products that would benefit from orbital manufacturing are varied but include electronics,
telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, and high strength alloys. Orbital manufacturing of space
stations and satellites would also reduce the cost of research in orbit in addition to making
manned missions beyond it possible. The environmental effects of this are important to
consider, and after reviewing the data it can be concluded that they are limited at most.
Background
In recent years the public interest in space exploration has grown greatly, from news
stories about space tourism via SpaceX or Blue Origin, to the launch of Artemis 1 which is the
first in a series of missions planned by the United States’s National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) to return to the moon to stay. This renewed interest has of course come
with a large and steady increase in orbital launches. (Zafrane et. al. 2019) It is in this context
that one must wonder what is there to be done in space once the publicity has faded? It turns
out that there are many good reasons to engage in space activity outside of tourism or publicity
seeking, such as scientific research, commercial and military space infrastructure such as
telecommunications or global positioning system satellites, and the manufacturing of
commercial goods. The focus of this paper is the latter, namely orbital manufacturing. After
reading the facts, one must conclude that in aggregate, the development of an orbital
manufacturing base would have great economic benefits in addition to a limited environmental
impact.
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Industrial benefits
The development of orbital manufacturing would benefit a diverse set of industries, such
as telecommunications, electronics, pharmaceuticals, high strength alloys, and many others.
(Muzyka, 2019) The benefits to the electronics and telecommunications industries alone would
be immense, for instance the level of quality of fiber optic cables made in microgravity is
unmatched by those made on earth because of the unique conditions that space provides. The
cables made in orbit are able to have a higher range of frequencies than those made on earth in
addition to having lower transmission losses. (O’Callaghan, 2022) In short, this would mean that
internet speeds could be made faster and more efficient at the same time. The
telecommunications industry has already benefited from the commercialization of space with the
introduction of telecommunications satellites, which have made the internet accessible in
previously disconnected rural areas; however the satellite internet services are still more
expensive than their ground based counterparts. This could be ameliorated by the
refurbishment and maintenance of satellites in orbit, in fact proposals to do just that have
received a lot of enthusiasm from satellite operators. (Lopatka, 2019) These are just a small
segment of the innumerable ways in which telecommunications and electronics could benefit
from orbital manufacturing.
Research benefits
Private and public research could also greatly benefit from orbital manufacturing, since
currently the size of objects that can be launched is greatly limited by the volume that can fit in a
particular rocket's faring or cargo cover. (Makaya et. al. 2022) This issue negatively affects the
possible performance of space equipment of all kinds and could be made largely irrelevant by
the production and assembly of satellite components in orbit. Producing components for
assembly in orbit instead of launching them pre assembled would also reduce the cost of
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missions, and manufacturing components in space likely will be what makes missions beyond
earth’s orbit possible. (Makaya et. al 2022) All the previously mentioned candidate industries
that would likely benefit from orbital manufacturing research would also benefit from the creation
of larger space stations from materials gathered in space. This is a likely possibility because of
the development of welding processes that work on raw metal from iron rich asteroids. (Evans
Et. Al. 2017) The development of orbital manufacturing would therefore make it possible to do
much more research in space in all fields while spending less money on launches.
Environmental impacts
The environmental impact of orbital development must be considered, since the demand
for orbital launches has grown rapidly and will likely continue to grow in the future. Orbital rocket
launches of course do cause pollution, however not all rocket fuels and oxidizers are equal in
this regard. For instance, UDMH-NT (hydrazine-nitrogen tetroxide) is very toxic and produces
dangerous exhaust (Kopak, 2019); while liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen are nontoxic and
produce no carbon dioxide emissions. UDMH-NT has not been used as a primary propellant for
orbital launches in the United States for decades, however it is still used in the Russian proton
and Chinese long march rockets. It is however not used in any new rocket designs because of
these and other drawbacks, and its use will likely continue to fall in the future. Another issue to
consider other than fuel toxicity is carbon dioxide emissions, the primary culprit for carbon
dioxide emissions in rocket launches is kerosine. The emissions from kerosine powered rocket
launches can be easily compared to those from the aviation industry, which uses roughly 300
billion liters of kerosine per year, while in 1997 1.77 billion liters of kerosine were used in orbital
launches. (Semenkov & Koroleva, 2022) It is therefore safe to say that the carbon dioxide
emissions from orbital launches are of limited significance to the climate compared to other
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sources. The last major possible environmental impact to consider is the impact of launches on
the ozone layer, although the impacts on the stratospheric ozone layer are negligible more
research is needed to confirm that this will remain true as launch numbers increase. (Semenkov
& Koroleva, 2022) The environmental impacts of orbital development on human and
environmental health, carbon dioxide emissions, and the ozone layer are therefore at worst
small.
Conclusion
In conclusion, The development of an orbital manufacturing base in orbit would enable
the creation of better products in many varied industries, reduce the cost of research of all kinds
in orbit, and all while having a limited impact on the environment. It is for these reasons that the
development of orbital manufacturing should be encouraged by the public, as well as supported
by private and public space agencies alike.
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