Space Exploration and Sustainable Development

This study seeks to understand how the space industry impacts the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Using the SDGs as a guiding precept, a rapid review of each individual SDG and relevant space industries was conducted to assess the impacts of space exploration and the global goals. A rapid review is a type of meta-analysis [1] which provides a similar type of analysis as a traditional systematic review, but with constraints that make it useful for accelerated analysis and the analysis of emerging research topics [2]. For this study, the question of interest was, “How does space exploration intersect with the UN’s SDGs?”. Preliminary findings of this study show evidence of four prominent spheres of impact between space technologies and the SDGs: (1) remote sensing and earth observations satellite data are central to monitoring, modelling, and policymaking around the SDGs, (2) Extra-terrestrial conditions (microgravity, near-perfect vacuum, etc.) offer new manufacturing and energy generating capabilities, (3) spinoff technologies and technology transfers from space exploration activities often find terrestrial applications and finally (4) many articles discuss the possible societal implications of space technologies.