Space Exploration and Sustainable Development

How does space exploration and development impact progress towards achieving the UN SDGs?

The aerospace industry has historically neglected the environmental and social impacts of space technologies. This comes with tremendous risk for humanity, as the industry seems primed to expand at an exponential rate. There is a complex network of agents necessary to coordinate on driving change, including governmental, corporate, and technical actors. SESD focuses on research that can be practically implemented by the aerospace industry and aerospace engineers, and the Space 4 Humans YouTube channel seeks to expand the audience for that research so that these issues can be better understood and considered by all the actors necessary to drive societal change.

Key Accomplishments

2022-2023

The Ars Electronica Festival Director invited members of the team to display at their exhibition in Linz, Austria.
VR Exhibit featured in the ESPRONCEDA – Institute of Art & Culture “Digital Awareness Exhibition: From Education to Social Impact and Human Identity”, June 10 – June 18, 2022, in Barcelona, Spain.
“Space Exploration and Sustainable Development” at the IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society 2022 (ISTAS22), November 10-12, 2022.

2023-2024

Presented a paper entitled, “From Apollo to Artemis: A product archeology study of gender-inclusive technologies for human spaceflight” at the upcoming Society for Social Studies of Science Conference from November 8-11, 2023 in Honolulu, HI.
Launched the Space for Humans YouTube channel on February 29 with a red-carpet premiere event in Marston Theater with 65 attendees.
Presented their CSR framework at the “Responsible Space. A Nexus” event in Washington D.C. on February 20, 2024.