Space activity and environmental quality

Ficawoyi Donou-Adonsou, Morgan Larick, Adrienne Schupp, Christine Besenfelder, Michael Greenland, Connor Morrissey, Ynyra Bohan, Jack Pusloskie, Chandler Bankey, Paul Boutros, Richard Porrello, Samuel Holt, Ryan Kiley and Adam Shah

Applied Economics, 2025, vol. 57, issue 28, 4009-4024

Abstract: Space exploration has gained momentum over the last few decades. But what are the environmental impacts of space activity? While climatologists have a keen interest in this question, economic research into it is limited. In this paper, we investigate the impact of U.S. space activity on the quality of the environment. We apply the two-stage least squares method to time series data collected between 1981 and 2021. The results indicate that objects, payloads, and rocket bodies launched into space degrade the quality of the environment. Specifically, the results show that the launch of objects into space has a positive impact on footprint levels, CO2 footprint levels, non-CO2 footprint levels, global temperature, CO2 emissions, and greenhouse gas emissions. These results are corroborated by payloads and rocket bodies activities in space. Overall, the results suggest that objects, payloads, and rocket bodies increase demand for natural resources, contribute to climate change, and increase pollution.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00036846.2024.2342074 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:applec:v:57:y:2025:i:28:p:4009-4024

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/RAEC20

DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2024.2342074

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Economics is currently edited by Anita Phillips

More articles in Applied Economics from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().