Space Sustainability and Why It Matters

Summary: In order to preserve critical space-based services and economic opportunities for current and future generations, we need internationally fair, scientifically appropriate, and commercially viable environmental oversight to secure future options in space, reduce costs, reassure investors, and sustain development.

Jessica Wahl is a senior in Georgetown University’s Science, Technology and International Affairs program. Her thesis research explores planetary protection and how scientists involved in the search for life beyond Earth balance competing scientific, ethical, social, and institutional factors in their astrobiology research. She is interested in combining her passions for environmental sustainability and space exploration.