Last summer, lan Christensen was staring up at the night sky above a US National Park and International Dark Sky area. He and his companions were listening to a ranger talk about the wonders of the night sky when they were confronted with an unexpected sight: a train of dots crossing the Milky Way.
"For me it was a crystallisation," he told delegates at the Abu Dhabi Space Debate. "Here's a system with benefits... but also a direct and discernible impact on how we as a species engage with the environment."
Christensen who is the director of private sector programmes at the Secure World Foundation, an organisation that aims to promote space sustainability - was one of many speakers at the two-day meeting in December 2022, organised by the United Arab Emirates. It was the first-ever international meeting solely dedicated to addressing new space challenges on a global scale. While space has been on the agenda at major world meetings before, including the COP climate meetings, it has always been as an adjunct, a side issue among many others.
Now with rising numbers of new players in space, out-of-date rules and tensions rising both on Earth and in space, the Space Debate aimed to provide a forum to cooperatively discuss the future of space.
Safety and the sustainability of space were high on the agenda. Who owns space? Who makes the laws? Who will pay for the clean-up of space debris? These were some of the questions running through the debate.
"We have moved from the bi-polar world of the Cold War and its Space Race to a multilateral world where some 70 nations are space-capable; where a fast-growing private sector is taking an increasing role and global tensions have threatened some of the most cherished aspects of our exploration of space," said Her Excellency Sarah Al Amiri, chair of the UAE Space Agency in her opening remarks.
A problem shared
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Could We Find Aliens by Looking for Their Solar Panels?- Designed to reflect ultraviolet and infrared, the panels have a unique fingerprint
Researchers searching for life beyond Earth spend a lot of time thinking about what telltale signs might be detectable astronomically. Forms of unambiguous evidence for the presence of life on another world are known as biosignatures. By extension, techno signatures are indicators of activity by intelligent, civilisation-building life.
Antimatter- In our continuing series, Govert Schilling looks at antimatter, the strange counterpart to most of the matter filling our Universe
Particles and corresponding antiparticles are very much alike, except they have opposite electrical charges. For instance, the antiparticle of the electron - known as the positron - has the same tiny mass, but while electrons carry a negative electrical charge, positrons are positively charged.
Where Have All The Milky Way's Early Stars Gone?- Our Galaxy has a curious lack of pristine stars
The Big Bang produced a Universe filled almost exclusively with hydrogen and helium; all other elements - what astronomers call metals - were produced by stars, supernovae and everything that happens later. So if you can pick out a pristine star with no metals polluting it from among the billions in the Milky Way, then you are likely to have a star dating from our Galaxy's earliest days.
Inside The Sky At Night - Two years ago, exoplanet scientist Hannah Wakeford received some of the first data from the JWST
Two years ago, exoplanet scientist Hannah Wakeford received some of the first data from the JWST. In July's Sky at Night, we discovered what she's learned since then.
How to stack DSLR data in Siril
Easily combine multiple frames to boost detailin your astro photos
Lunar occultation of Saturn
You'll need to strike a balance on 21 August to capture the Moon covering the ringed planet
How to plot a variable star light curve
A rewarding project to chart stars that change brightness
Smartphone photography with a telescope
Mary Mcintyre explains how to get impressive night-sky images using your phone
Once-a-century solar storm is overdue
If a Carrington Event struck today it would be catastrophic, says Minna Palmroth
The new era of human spaceflight
There's been a step-change in crewed space missions since the dawn of the 21st century. Ben Evans charts its course and looks ahead to future horizons
