SPACE, SATELLITES AND SELF-ISOLATION THE ASTRONOMICAL IMPACT OF COVID-19

Coronavirus has had seismic effects on all aspects of life globally, but what has the space industry been able to tell us, and what can it do to help?

- Lee Cavendish

The world is in the midst of an unprecedented pandemic, and it is having a profound effect on individuals, businesses and industries across the globe. Since COVID-19 – also known as ‘coronavirus’ – gained global attention at the beginning of 2020, it has had a knock-on effect that can even be seen from space.

In response to battling the virus, almost all the world’s governments have issued strict lockdown policies stating that people can only leave their homes for essential shopping and going to work – but only for key workers. This has led to a dramatic reduction in travel, with local nonessential businesses being asked to close their doors temporarily and public gatherings being postponed.

The harmful emissions that usually permeate the atmosphere above busy cities are now drastically clearing as a consequence of these closures. Although COVID-19 is a negative situation as a whole, the side effects it’s having on the planet’s atmosphere and the environment are a minor positive. Calls for a large-scale reduction of fossilfuel burning and other means of harmful emission production have intensified over the last few years, and in the midst of this pandemic satellites in lowEarth orbit have been able to see what fossil-fuel abstinence can do for our planet.