A new petition filed with the US Federal Communications Commission warns that plans by SpaceX, Blue Origin and other tech firms to build vast networks of orbital datacentres could cause "catastrophic" environmental damage. Space industry experts and environmental groups argue that pollution from satellites and rockets burning up on re-entry is accumulating in the stratosphere at worrying levels, potentially altering the Earth's atmosphere, damaging the ozone layer and increasing light pollution across the night sky. The petition calls for a pause on new licences until the environmental, scientific and economic impacts are properly reviewed, accusing the companies of ignoring scrutiny of their "civilisation-changing" plans.

The petition was submitted by the non-profits Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, Earthjustice and DarkSky International, and says the spacecraft release black soot, rare metals, aluminium oxides and other poorly understood pollutants. Former US space officials, including ex-Noaa satellite chief Steve Volz, voiced doubts that the orbital datacentre projects are even feasible, but stressed that adding millions more satellites to orbit would still pose serious environmental risks. The number of active satellites has already grown from around 1,400 in 2015 to roughly 15,000 today, with up to 100,000 expected within a decade — not including proposed datacentre networks — while existing "mega constellations" like Starlink and Amazon's broadband satellites already number about 10,000.