By Lisa Savage,
Posted on Lisa’a Substack, 6 November 2026
Who regulates weapons in space? Who regulates the pollution?
Meaningful oversight of the Pentagon and NASA’s militarization of space is non-existent. Now that they’ve admitted putting an offensive weapon into orbit, shouldn’t people be paying more attention?
Also a kindergartener could look at photos and tell you that rocket launches are very bad for the environment. Scientists can of course quantify how bad and in what specific ways: ozone depletion and a rain of toxic substances on the ground and in coastal waters. And that’s when things go as planned. Accidents, which are not at all rare, cause enormous additional emissions and debris.
That’s why we’ve maintained a presence outside the annual Maine Space Conference for the last few years.
Yesterday’s standout was discouraging. Only four of us showed up to the conference’s new location in a satellite office of Northeastern University in Portland’s Old Port.
On a side street with almost no vehicle traffic, only a few pedestrians saw our protest. Oddly, every pedestrian who spoke with us said they agreed with our messages. But they were too busy (or frightened or possibly apathetic) to stand with us, so the pile of signs I had brought along went mostly unused.
Some conference attendees passed us on their way to lunch. Others stayed in and took delivery of pizza which I’m guessing was the private Hyde School that had sent a short bus to transport students from nearby Bath. We saw teenagers watching our protest from a balcony three stories above street level. Not sure what their school policy is on phones but I hope some observers — including an older man who was clearly filming us from the 2nd floor balcony — share their videos on social media.
The offices across the street from the Roux Institute/Northeastern also had people observing us from inside the building.
As a board member for the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space I’m realizing I should publish an informational webinar about the environmental harms of space programs. Stay tuned for that! If you find it useful, maybe you will share it with others.
as for the dangers of war in space, go here to the GN website to find lots of solid information about that.
