  Our planet and our species are at an existential crossroads. In the long
term, climate change threatens to upend life as we know it, while the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic revealed that the world is unprepared and ill-equipped to
handle acute shocks to its many systems. These shocks exacerbate the inequities
and challenges already present prior to COVID in ways that are still evolving
in unpredictable directions. As weary nations look toward a post-COVID world,
we draw attention to both the injustice and many impacts of the quiet
occupation of near-Earth space, which has rapidly escalated during this time of
global crisis. The communities most impacted by climate change, the ongoing
pandemic, and systemic racism are those whose voices are missing as
stakeholders both on the ground and in space. We argue that significant
domestic and international changes to the use of near-Earth space are urgently
needed to preserve access to - and the future utility of - the valuable natural
resources of space and our shared skies. After examining the failure of the
U.S. and international space policy status quo to address these issues, we make
specific recommendations in support of safer and more equitable uses of
near-Earth space.
