Beyond the Moon, beyond waste

Watching NASA’s Christina Koch drift in the capsule, Earth glowing blue beside her against the deep black of space, I felt something shift. The image — calm, almost poetic — captures the essence of exploration. Yet it also raises a more uncomfortable thought.

Where Man goes, there is waste.

Koch, an engineer and NASA astronaut, has spent 328 days aboard the International Space Station, setting a record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman. She also took part in the first all-female spacewalk. In leading the Artemis II mission, she has gone further still — beyond low Earth orbit, past the Moon, pushing boundaries that once seemed fixed.

The mission’s name feels fitting. Artemis, the Greek goddess of the hunt and the Moon, is also known as a protector of young women. Seeing Koch lead this journey feels symbolic, not just of progress in space exploration but of the generations watching from below.

Space is not empty. It carries trace of everything we have launched. According to NASA, more than 25 000 pieces of debris larger than 10 centimetres orbit Earth. Include smaller fragments and the number climbs into the hundreds of millions. Together, they form a cloud of material travelling at extreme speeds: invisible, yet capable of damaging satellites, spacecraft and critical infrastructure.

And just picture the 2 700 decommissioned satellites swirling around Earth. A UK-led consortium involving partners from Spain, Estonia and Sweden is exploring whether these can be dismantled and reused in orbit. The project, known as Dexter, was launched in 2025 and is testing robotic arms for capture and laser-based cutting tools designed for such otherworldly conditions.

And this is just the beginning. Hundreds of space missions are planned for the next 10 years, starting with at least five confirmed for this year.

Future missions will bring familiar waste streams into unfamiliar territory: food packaging, plastics, worn textiles, metal components. A crew of four on a deep-space mission could generate over two tonnes of waste in a year. There is no landfill on the Moon. No export route. No margin for inefficiency.

The cost alone forces a rethink. Launching a single kilogram to the lunar surface can run into hundreds of thousands of euros. Every discarded item is not just waste — it is lost value.

According to a 2023 paper in Space Policy, the economic impact of unchecked space debris could reach up to 1.95% of global GDP.

That is why initiatives such as NASA’s lunar recycling challenge (with a budget of EUR 3 million) and the European Space Agency’s circular economy vision are gaining traction. The idea is simple, yet radical: turn waste into a resource. Melt plastics into 3D printing feedstock. Reuse metals for spare parts. Even explore whether discarded materials can be converted into fuel.

On Earth, this circular logic feels familiar. In space, it becomes essential.

Koch herself embraces the mindset of testing your known limits. ‘I love a can-do attitude but remember: if you aren’t failing, you’re probably not pushing the boundaries,’ she once said. It is a reminder that progress is rarely clean or linear. But it must be intentional.

Her message on return resonates even more: ‘Planet Earth, you are a crew.’ Simple words, stated with such clarity. It gave me chills.

Perhaps that is the real takeaway from this new era of exploration. Not just that we can go further but that we must think differently when we do and feel more united in our efforts. Because the further we travel, the harder it becomes to ignore what we leave behind.