CSA Project: Constellation Sustainability Assessment
In partnership with New Horizon
In collaboration with Spinlife (Spin-off, University of Padua)
Supported by SMACT Competence Center
Space debris is the most discussed environmental concern in the space sector. Less discussed is the environmental cost of building and operating the objects that end up there. The CSA (Constellation Sustainability Assessment) project starts from this gap.
Developed together with New Horizon and Spinlife, with the support of SMACT Competence Center through the IRISS funding call, the project applies Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology directly to an operational satellite constellation. The goal is to measure the actual environmental footprint of a space mission, from component manufacturing to end-of-life, using real mission data rather than estimates or theoretical models.
From methodology to measurement
For Apogeo Space, whose picosatellites weigh less than 1 kg, the absolute impact values are small. That is partly the point. Working at this scale makes it possible to develop and validate the analytical framework under controlled conditions, before applying it to larger and more complex platforms.
The exercise also produces something immediately useful: a quantitative baseline that connects environmental performance to operational and design choices.
The tool being developed within the project is designed to move beyond static assessment. The direction is toward decision-support: running simulations of how specific choices — a different materials supplier, an alternative orbit, a modified operational profile — affect both environmental indicators and mission economics.
Environmental sustainability and economic sustainability frequently point in the same direction, and the tool is built to make that relationship visible.
Why this matters for operators
There are also regulatory and strategic reasons to take this work seriously. European rules on sustainability reporting and ESG compliance are expanding and the space sector is not exempt. Being able to demonstrate a quantitative, data-driven approach to environmental impact positions operators to meet current requirements and anticipate future ones, as well as access funding instruments that require this kind of documentation.
The CSA project represents Apogeo Space’s contribution to a conversation the space sector needs to have: not just how to avoid collisions in orbit, but how to account for what it costs the planet to get there.
Funded by the European Union – Next Generation EU
Contribution awarded to Apogeo Space: €55.000
Project CUP: H89J25000100004