  This document is an abbreviated version of the law review, led by Alexander
Q. Gilbert, entitled: "Major Federal Actions Significantly Affecting the
Quality of the Space Environment: Applying NEPA to Federal and Federally
Authorized Outer Space Activities." Here, we discuss the future of the space
environment, and how it is increasingly becoming a human environment with
regard to continued robotic and human presence in orbit, planned and proposed
robotic and human presence on bodies such as the Moon and Mars, planned space
mining projects, the increase use of low-Earth orbit for communications
satellites, and other human uses of space. As such, we must evaluate and
protect these environments just as we do on Earth. In order to prioritize
mitigating threat of contamination, avoiding conflict, and promoting
sustainability in space, all to ensure that actors maintain equal and safe
access to space, we propose applying the National Environmental Policy Act, or
NEPA, to space missions. We put forward three examples of environmental best
practices for those involved in space missions to consider: adopting
precautionary and communicative structure to before, during, and after missions
taking place off-world, environmental impact statements, and transparency in
tools that may impact the environment (including radioisotope power sources,
plans in case of vehicle loss or loss of trajectory, and others). For
additional discussion related to potential space applications of NEPA, NEPA's
statutory text, and NEPA's relation to space law and judicial precedent for
space, we recommend reading the full law review.
