Starlink carbon footprint up to 30 times size of land-based internet

The space race that is seeing SpaceX, Eutelsat and Amazon launch thousands of satellites capable of providing internet service will probably carry a significant environmental cost. That is what the first attempt to calculate the carbon footprints associated with each company’s operations has concluded.

The analysis, conducted by researchers in the US and UK, found that the carbon footprint of each satellite constellation is potentially 14 to 21 times higher per internet subscriber than the emissions associated with  land-based …