No. 131: Satellite Sustainability

Greg Rancourt -

It's getting crowded up there in space. We've known for a while that the number of objects in orbit – and debris from collisions – has complicated our ability to launch and operate satellites, but there's a unique sustainability twist this week. It turns out that greenhouse gas emissions are shrinking the upper atmosphere with implications on end-of-life for satellites in orbit. This is a part of the atmosphere that hasn't been studied well in the past, and if we maintain our current course, we could lose about half of our current satellite capacity by the end of the century.

The greenhouse gas emissions aren't the only part that make this a social impact issue. We rely on satellites for GPS, weather forecasting, predicting droughts and famine, monitoring ocean health, and tracking air quality to name a few applications. In short, we need that space.

I'm also highlighting some solid product management job opportunities this week and pointing you to one of the O.G. social impact job boards, Idealist. If you're interested in activism opportunities, you might come away surprised like I did – Idealist has more than a career change on offer.

~ Greg

What we're reading

A new study suggests our greenhouse gas emissions could drastically reduce the number of satellites that can safely orbit Earth by the end of the century. (Grist)

  • We're launching more satellites than ever, and we're doing so at an accelerating rate. There are currently 10,000 satellites in orbit, and we're on track to launch an additional 60,000 satellites by 2030 – two-thirds of which would be Starlink satellites.
    • According to this week's research in Nature Sustainability, we're rapidly converging on the upper limit of satellites that can safely operate in the orbital range used by most satellites: 148,000.
  • Greenhouse gases are also cooling and shrinking the upper atmosphere which means space debris stays in orbit longer.
    • Our atmosphere naturally cleans up space junk by creating drag that eventually pulls objects back to Earth. With a thinner atmosphere, debris lingers longer – potentially for thousands of years.
  • It seems odd to think about space as part of the climate crisis, but space debris is its own form of pollution with companies trying to clean it up before it becomes impossible to launch satellites.
    • The name for this is Kessler syndrome: colliding satellites create more debris which leads to more collisions which leads to more debris in a chain reaction that could make orbital space unusable.
    • We're starting to see early successes to clean up space, but we're talking about a remarkably challenging problem. There are an estimated 130 million objects in orbit that are too small to be monitored.
  • It's rare that we talk about social impact so far from terra firma, but this represents another unexpected consequence of our greenhouse gas emissions – one that threatens the invisible infrastructure powering our modern lives, from GPS to weather forecasting.

Job of the week

I'm tucking a few product management roles into the newsletter this week, but the standout is this Senior Product Manager opportunity from ChargePoint. ChargePoint is one of the biggest names in electric vehicle charging – they operate a nationwide charging network and design chargers for homeowners.

In this role, you'd be working on the strategic roadmap for the charger management software, which means getting to know what drivers and station operations need and building a solution that works for everyone. Sounds to me like a great opportunity to usher in the EV transition at a scale that most roles can't touch – if you're an infrastructure nut like me and want coast-to-coast impact, be sure to take a look.

Community roundup

  • Solar energy is fastest growing source of energy in the U.S. based on new data from the Energy Information Administration. Renewables represent nearly 25% of all U.S. electricity production, and wind turbines are the largest source of renewable energy. I would anticipate that changing in the near future, because wind projects face more headwinds than solar projects in general. (Electrek)
  • Air travel is famously bad for greenhouse gas emissions, but a number of companies are working on more efficient aircraft designs to reuse fuel burn. One of those companies is JetZero, and Delta Airlines has announced a partnership with them to bring a blended-wing passenger jet to market. (Fast Company)
    • If you're not familiar with the term blended-wing body, I'd encourage you to check out the picture in the source article. Imagine a more triangular shape compared to the tubular fuselage you're used to today.
    • A demonstrator aircraft is planned for 2027, which is very soon in my opinion – the company was founded in 2021.
  • We've been talking about the EV tax credit in the U.S., but Canada has a similar program that is ending soon because it's running out of money to fund rebates. As a result, dealerships have been rushing to apply for rebates before the money runs out. (Electrek)
    • What stands out about this story, however, is that Transport Canada is investigating Tesla's rebate applications because they appear fraudulent. One location filed for 4,000 rebates over the course of a single weekend, which exceeds the couple hundred vehicles it can keep on its lot.
  • For the first time, a company working on gene therapy has restored a mutated gene back to normal. The mutated gene in the study affects around 100,000 people in the U.S. and causes a disease that can lead to lung and liver damage. (NYT)

Civic corner

  • A group of volunteers has built RestoredCDC.org, which aims to recreate the CDC website prior to the Trump administration updates that removed datasets and updated text content to reflect the DEI executive order. (Axios)
  • Higher education was a key theme this week. Columbia lost $400 million in funding, a slew of universities were targeted by the Department of Education due to protests over the Gaza conflict, a recent Columbia graduate – who is a permanent resident of the U.S., not an undocumented immigrant – was arrested by ICE for his role in pro-Palestinian protests, and the Department of Education announced that it was firing 1,300 workers.
  • Last year, we talked about roughly $20 billion in funding to support "green banks" that loan money for local climate-related projects. That funding was frozen by the Trump administration, and one of the major beneficiaries, Climate United, has sued the EPA and Citibank for withholding a $7 billion award. (NYT)
  • The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a First Amendment challenge against a Colorado law banning conversion therapy. (NYT)
    • If I were a betting man, I'd say this will follow a similar result from 2023 which stated that business owners could refuse service – discriminate against same-sex couples, in this case – on religious grounds. That case was decided along ideological lines.

Hot job opportunities

Resource of the week

Looking for another social impact job board to add to your bookmarks? Idealist has been around for 30 years and remains one of the most comprehensive resources out there.

You can find thousands of job opportunities from nonprofits, social enterprises, and mission-driven organizations on their website, and they even carved out a special section for internships. Beyond just job opportunities, they also list volunteer opportunities, making it a one-stop shop for engaging with the social impact community.

I originally wanted to include them for their job search resources, but it turns out that they have resources for budding organizers as well. I've spoken with a few readers who have expressed interest in taking action, and Idealist offers free coaching to help you build a grassroots effort in your community. I've never come across something like this before, so be sure to take a look if you want to make a difference but don't know where to start.

Test your knowledge

Last week's question touched on vaccination efforts – smallpox, specifically. The World Health Organization declared that smallpox was eliminated in 1980, which is impressive when you consider that the campaign to eliminate it kicked off in earnest in 1966 and required international cooperation. Given that smallpox is caused by a virus, one wonders if something like influenza could be eradicated in a similar way, although I tend to think that part of what made this campaign successful was the seriousness of the disease; our history with COVID is probably about as close as we'll get.

I've been struck these past few weeks by the number of protests not just in the U.S. but around the world. That inspired me – what could we learn about some of the protests in our past?

In 1989, a protestor stood in front of a column of tanks leaving Tiananmen Square and created one of the most iconic images of political resistance in history. What nickname did they earn as a result?

Email me your guess, and I'll send one lucky winner a couple of One Work stickers!

I had company in town last week and took them to Multnomah Falls. I hadn't been there myself, but apparently I'm an outlier – the U.S. Forest Service says it's the "most visited natural recreation site in the Pacific Northwest." I can see why: it's jaw-dropping in person.