The night sky has deep cultural significance in many Indigenous knowledge systems. Stories, traditions, and astronomical knowledge are often embedded in cultural practice and environmental understanding.¹²

Published: 2 June 2026 | EMFSA

‘Unacceptable to our people’: Diverse cultural beliefs, Indigenous rights, and the future of human activities on the Moon by John C. Barentine

Given the consensus nature of international norms and standards for acceptable actions undertaken in space, including on the Moon, anything short of free, prior and informed consent is inconsistent with the idea enshrined in the Outer Space Treaty that space is “the province of all mankind”.

PDF: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2605.17706

Citation: 

arXiv:2605.17706 

https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2605.17706

EMFSA May 2026 Newsletter Highlights Additional Topics

• AI and Technology

What does the Pope say about:

• AI and education?
• Age limits for digital devices?

• The Blood–Brain Barrier (BBB): An Active Research Target

Although millimeter waves (mm waves) used in 5G have very limited penetration into biological tissue, researchers continue to investigate potential BBB-related effects because biological systems may respond through indirect pathways. The evidence remains mixed and is not yet fully resolved.

• Experimental and clinical evidence on radiofrequency electromagnetic field effects on the blood–brain barrier: a scoping review (Open Access)

Citation:
Elif Taspinar Simsek et al. (2026) Physics in Medicine & Biology, 71(10), 10TR01.
DOI: 10.1088/1361-6560/ae6e17
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6560/ae6e17

• How important are independent review processes and effective patient education, particularly in cases involving rare or poorly understood conditions?

References

https://practicalneurology.com/news/explanation-for-the-new-brunswick-mystery-illness-proposed-in-new-article/2474615

Bendahan N, Gautreau S, Medina Escobar A, et al. Clinical and Neuropathological Evaluations of the New Brunswick Neurological Syndrome of Unknown Cause. JAMA Neurol. 2025;82(8):788–796. doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2025.1718 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaneurology/fullarticle/2833783

• Ecological Effects of Artificial Light at Night (ALAN) – Call for Papers

Submission status: Open
Submission deadline: 11 February 2027

Submissions are invited from researchers across behavioural ecology, chronobiology, urban ecology, conservation science, environmental physiology, and related disciplines. Contributions addressing methodological innovation, ecosystem-scale analyses, and policy-relevant approaches to understanding and mitigating the impacts of ALAN are particularly encouraged.

Read more: https://www.nature.com/collections/aggecijegc

• 5G millimeter-wave (mmWave) studies

• S. Adda et al., Maximum Exposure of 5G Base Stations in the mmWave Band: the Impact of Multi-User MIMO and CSI-RS Ports, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement. DOI: 10.1109/TIM.2026.3690868 (Open Access CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11527038
• S. Iakovidis et al., “A Novel Framework for Realistic 3D Skin Modeling and its Exposure to Millimeter Waves,” in IEEE Journal of Microwaves, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 641-652, May 2026, doi: 10.1109/JMW.2026.3684941 https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11506041

• A comprehensive international framework addressing both ionizing and non-ionizing radiation

 https://www.emfsa.co.za/research-and-studies/radiation-monitoring-and-preparedness/

Link to EMFSA May 2026 Newsletter Highlights https://mailchi.mp/emfsa/emfsa-may-2026-newsletter

Further reading https://www.emfsa.co.za/news/5g-frequency-range-2-fr2/

Footnotes

² Harrison KD, Kelso N, Ramík DM, Ramík N, Plunkett GM, Neriam R, Nasauman W, Nasauman W, Balick MJ. “Sun brings all things”: Sun and moon lore as biocultural knowledge on Aneityum island, Vanuatu. PLoS One. 2025 Aug 1;20(8):e0327693. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0327693. PMID: 40749018; PMCID: PMC12316303. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12316303/

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Link to our free August 2024 newsletter https://mailchi.mp/emfsa/august2024news

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Click on the blue time links below the video to jump straight to a talk.

This FAS webinar is aimed at the interested amateur through to early-career post-doctorate researcher. It aims to bring together expert speakers to explain the challenges that are posed by large constellations of satellites to the use of LEO space, the Earth environment, Indigenous cultures and Astronomy.

0:00:12 Day 1 Programme

0:01:20 Welcome, Dr Paul A. Daniels

0:03:02 An Introduction to Megaconstellations, Prof Andy Lawrence

0:28:09 SpaceX Satellites and the Night Sky, David Goldstein

0:57:57 Responsible Constellations, Maurizio Vanotti

1:17:30 40 Minute Lunch/Breakfast

1:18:04 Space Debris environment, Dr Hélène Ma

1:42:51 Flying Through Polluted Skies, Dr Thomas Ormston

2:10:35 Space Traffic Control, Stuart Eves

2:36:53 Q&A and Discussion, Dr Robert Massey & Panel

2:55:51 15 Minute Break

2:56:10 The environmental consequences of industrializing Earth orbits, Prof Aaron C. Boley

3:22:38 Satellite light pollution: an emerging threat to global night skies, Dr John C. Barentine

3:46:11 The impact of megaconstellations on heritage and Indigenous relationships to the night sky., Jessica Heim (and Doug Sinclair and Dr Juan-Carlos Chavez who were not recorded)

3:54:43 10 Minute Break

3:55:06 The Challenge of Megaconstellations in an Environmental Context, Dr Thomas Cheney

4:19:39 Overcoming Legal Challenges to a Sustainable Space Future, Charles L. Mudd Jr.

4:44:56 Q&A and Discussion, Dr Robert Massey & Panel

5:12:24 Close of Day, Dr Paul A. Daniels

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Wishing all a wonderful and blessed New Year!

Link to the newsletter:

https://mailchi.mp/emfsa/ehs-family-love-light-joy-environment

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Abstract

Every year, more and more objects are sent to space. The increasing number of countries with space programs, advancing commercialization, and ambitious satellite constellation projects raise concerns about space debris and the increase of mass flux into the atmosphere due to deorbiting of satellites and rocket bodies. A comparison of this anthropogenic influx to the natural influx due to meteoroids is presented giving detailed information about the mass, composition and ablation of the entering matter. Currently, anthropogenic material does make up about 2.8% compared to the annual injected mass of natural origin. For two different future scenarios considering planned and already partially installed large satellite constellations this fraction increases to nearly 13%, respectively 40%. For these cases, the anthropogenic injection of several metals prevails the injection by natural sources by far. Considering different ablation products, we find that the anthropogenic injection of aerosols into the atmosphere increases disproportionately. Today, they make up about 1% compared to the injected aerosol mass of natural origin, increasing to 30% and 94% for the two future scenarios, respectively. Considering the injection of atoms, the natural injection is dominant by far. For the two future scenarios, the anthropogenic injection is only at 5%, respectively 15% compared to the annual natural atom injection. The predicted strong increase in anthropogenic injection will make it significant in comparison to the natural injection which can have yet unknown effects on Earth’s atmosphere and the terrestrial habitat.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0273117720307663?via%3Dihub

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Describes the scientific and cultural value of the sky

Illustrates the environmental damage of excess light

Explains the relationship between astronomy and space technology

Introduction

This book takes a close look at our relationship with the sky, the stars, light and darkness. In particular, it examines how light pollution has interfered with the culture of astronomy and our ability to appreciate this essential facet of our natural world.

The sky has always held significance for humanity, in both cultural and scientific terms. And yet we persistently pollute it with (sometimes unnecessary) light in our obsessive desire to chase away the darkness. This effectively switches off the stars, hampering our ability to enjoy one of the most inspiring sights nature has to offer to humankind. In addition, too much light is hazardous to both our health and that of the fauna and flora of this planet.This book also features a comprehensive look at the current controversy regarding efforts to expand internet access through the launch into low Earth orbits of thousands of new satellites, which will pollute the night with moving lights while filling to saturation the capability of the circumterrestrial space. This conflict does not mean that the interests of astronomy and those of space technology have to be at odds, and potential compromises are explored between the satellite initiative and the desire to maintain a dark, radio silent sky.

Bibliographic information

Book Title Saving the Starry Night

Book Subtitle Light Pollution and Its Effects on Science, Culture and Nature

Authors Patrizia Caraveo

DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85064-7

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The Outer Space Institute is pleased to publish the International Open Letter on Kinetic Anti-Satellite (ASAT) Testing, which urges the UN General Assembly to take up consideration of a treaty that would prohibit conducting debris-generating anti-satellite weapon tests. The letter with an appended list of early signatories is available HERE.

The Outer Space Institute is a transdisciplinary international institute dedicated to space studies.

Extract:

The number of active and defunct satellites in orbit has grown from 3300 to over 7600 in the last decade, with the potential addition of as many as 100,000 active satellites within the next ten years. This rapid growth is raising concerns about collisions and the proliferation of space debris, endangering all forms of space use, from crewed missions, to communications, to Earth observations and environmental monitoring, to space-based astronomy. New practices are needed for the safe and sustainable use of space.

A major step toward this end would be a kinetic ASAT test ban treaty. Kinetic ASAT weapons, whether ground-based or space-based, employ high velocity physical strikes through the use of a ‘kill vehicle’ or shrapnel to destroy or disable objects in orbit. Due to the high impact energies involved, debris from a kinetic ASAT test often ends up on highly eccentric orbits that cross multiple satellite ‘orbital shells’ twice per revolution. If just one piece of debris from such a test collides with a satellite and causes a major fragmentation event, this could lead to additional events affecting all States, which could include further fragmentations, satellite failures, or service disruptions.

A kinetic ASAT test ban treaty would prohibit the use of any high velocity physical strikes during testing. ‘Fly by’ tests would still be permitted.

Even low-altitude kinetic ASAT tests that seek to minimize long-lived debris are problematic because the high impact energies are still able to place some of the debris on eccentric orbits that can extend more than 1000 km above the test altitude.

http://outerspaceinstitute.ca/docs/OSI_International_Open_Letter_ASATs_PUBLIC.pdf

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By Mike Wall

Yunhai 1-02’s wounds are not self-inflicted.

In March, the U.S. Space Force’s 18th Space Control Squadron (18SPCS) reported the breakup of Yunhai 1-02, a Chinese military satellite that launched in September 2019. It was unclear at the time whether the spacecraft had suffered some sort of failure — an explosion in its propulsion system, perhaps — or if it had collided with something in orbit. 

We now know that the latter explanation is correct, thanks to some sleuthing by astrophysicist and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell, who’s based at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Snippet:

McDowell described the incident as the first major confirmed orbital collision since February 2009, when the defunct Russian military spacecraft Kosmos-2251 slammed into Iridium 33, an operational communications satellite. That smashup generated a whopping 1,800 pieces of trackable debris by the following October. 

However, we may be entering an era of increasingly frequent space collisions — especially smashups like the Yunhai incident, in which a relatively small piece of debris wounds but doesn’t kill a satellite. Humanity keeps launching more and more spacecraft, after all, at an ever-increasing pace.

“Collisions are proportional to the square of the number of things in orbit,” McDowell told Space.com. “That is to say, if you have 10 times as many satellites, you’re going to get 100 times as many collisions. So, as the traffic density goes up, collisions are going to go from being a minor constituent of the space junk problem to being the major constituent. That’s just math.”

Our current space junk problem is not that severe, but the Yunhai event could be a warning sign of sorts. It’s possible, McDowell said, that Object 48078 was knocked off the Zenit-2 rocket by a collision, so the March smashup may be part of a cascade.

“That’s all very worrying and is an additional reason why you want to remove these big objects from orbit,” McDowell told Space.com.

Read the article at: https://www.space.com/space-junk-collision-chinese-satellite-yunhai-1-02

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