​Researchers and space governance experts say current agreements like the Outer Space Treaty don’t adequately address stewardship, equity and collective responsibility, required ingredients for a framework that can effectively manage space for the common good.

“We are teetering on the precipice of how the uses of space are changing, and that threatens our ability to use space,” said astronomer and dark sky policy expert John Barentine, who co-founded the Center for Space Environmentalism in 2025.

The center filed formal comments with the FCC on all four satellite-fleet proposals, writing that the deployments are “a massive industrialization of orbit that poses severe collision risks” and that they push the massive energy demands of artificial intelligence into low Earth orbit, threatening its sustainability. And mirroring sunlight to Earth from satellites could threaten ecosystems and disrupt astronomical research, the group added.

Read more: ​https://insideclimatenews.org/news/13062026/commercial-satellite-space-race-pollution/

Another natural resource that will undoubtedly be affected by orbital data centers is the night sky. These satellites, necessitating large solar arrays, will be much more visible than most satellites today. And if companies like SpaceX have their way, there would be something like a factor of 100 more satellites than what are zipping around orbit today. It is a sobering thought for astronomers, who not only love a dark sky but also rely on it to make observations.

The astronomical community has dealt with satellites photo-bombing the night sky for a long time, but the problem worsened in 2019 when SpaceX started launching operational Starlink satellites. So far, scientists and the space companies have largely been able to work out their differences.

“At this point in time, largely because we have pursued dialogue with the industry, we have avoided what we were concerned about in 2019 as the worst outcome,” said John Barentine, an astronomer and self-described “defender” of dark skies. “We’ve seen companies like SpaceX, and some of their competitors, making efforts on a voluntary basis to reduce their impact on ground-based astronomy.”

Read more: ​https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/orbital-data-centers-part-1-theres-no-way-this-is-economically-viable-right/

​SpaceX's plan to launch one million orbiting data centers to space worries astronomers,who say the satellite streaks caused by the proposed constellation would severely impair observations.

Just as astronomers began to learn how to coexist with broadband megaconstellations in low Earth orbit (LEO), such as SpaceX's Starlink, a new threat has emerged, causing significant concerns. Elon Musk's envisioned constellation of one million orbital data centers would result in possibly tens of thousands of moving objects as bright as stars that are visible in the night sky at any given moment, even to the naked eye, according to astronomer and dark sky consultant John Barentine.

Read more: ​https://www.space.com/space-exploration/satellites/spacexs-1-million-orbiting-ai-data-centers-could-ruin-astronomy-scientists-say