Space and Climate Change is the theme of this year’s World Space Week. According to the World Space Week Association, this theme “celebrates the transformative impact of space technology in our ongoing battle against climate change, emphasizing the proactive role space exploration plays in enhancing our understanding and management of Earth’s climate”.
Space technology is certainly crucial to combatting climate change. From monitoring climate change indicators like ocean temperature and deforestation, to tracking emissions, to forecasting natural disasters, the technology in this sector already has a wide range of climate-protecting applications, and the innovation is ongoing.
In fact, as the commercial sector of the space industry expands, more environmentally focussed companies are emerging. In this blog, we focus on three UK-based companies helping to save the planet from space.
Earthwave
Data science company Earthwave specialises in using satellite data to predict and prevent the effects of climate change. In particular, Earthwave works with multispectral, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), LiDAR and altimetry datasets to determine elevation, topography and deformation of the Earth’s surface, which in turn enables environmental changes such as global ice trends to be quantified and monitored. Among others, Earthwave have worked on projects which aim to improve the understanding of ice-ocean interactions in Antarctica, characterise Antarctic ice shelf changes, and reconcile measurements of glacier mass balance.
Space Solar
Space Solar’s mission is to enable Net Zero and global energy security. They aim to achieve this by launching a solar power station-carrying satellite into space. Lightweight solar panels on the satellite will convert sunlight, focussed onto the solar panels by a system of mirrors, into high frequency radio waves for beaming down to a receiver on earth. These radio waves will then be used to generate electricity. By turning as the earth moves around the sun, the satellite will provide a continuous and clean energy supply for use on earth.
Thales Alenia Space
Thales Alenia Space is a global space manufacturer, with three sites in the UK, involved in a multitude of environmentally focused projects. The company is a major contributor to 11 out of the 12 European Space Agency (ESA) Copernicus missions (a series of missions setting out to monitor the environment), building satellites, imaging spectrometers, and radar altimeters for these missions. Six of the new geostationary weather satellites for Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) will also be developed by Thales Alenia space. These satellites will detect severe weather events earlier, enabling potentially disastrous impacts to be avoided.
Conclusion
Efforts by UK-based space companies are providing ground-breaking progress in the battle against climate change. These companies epitomize the purpose of this year’s World Space Week, demonstrating that space technology and research provide crucial tools for understanding and managing the Earth’s climate.
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