Ogutu B. Osoro | Searcharxiv

arXiv2026

Emissions Assessment of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Broadband Megaconstellations; Starlink, OneWeb and Kuiper

The growth of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) broadband satellite megaconstellations is rapidly increasing the number of rocket launches. While improving broadband Internet helps achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there are also significant environmental emissions produced from burning rocket fuels. We present sustainability analytics for phase 1 of the three main LEO constellations including Amazon Kuiper (3,236 satellites), Eutelsat Group's OneWeb (648 satellites), and SpaceX Starlink (4,425 satellites). We find that LEO megaconstellations provide substantially improved broadband speeds for rural and remote communities but are roughly 6-8 times more emissions intensive (250 kg CO2eq/subscriber/year) than comparative terrestrial 4G mobile broadband. Policy makers must carefully consider the trade-off between improving broadband Internet to further the SDGs while mitigating the growing space sector environmental footprint, particularly regarding phase 2 plans to launch an order-of-magnitude more satellites.

astro-ph.EP↗

arXiv2024

Geospatial sustainability assessment of universal Fiber-To-The-Neighborhood (FTTnb) broadband infrastructure strategies for Sub-Saharan Africa

Broadband Internet access is an important way to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Currently, fixed fiber infrastructure is essential for providing universal broadband, but has received relatively little research attention in low-income countries compared to other more cost-efficient wireless technologies. Yet, pushing out fiber broadband network to local areas is essential, even if the final access network is still wireless. Here, we design least-cost Fiber-To-The-Neighborhood (FTTnb) architectures using two spatial optimization Steiner Tree algorithms to jointly determine investment costs, environmental emissions, and Social Carbon Costs. We find that the average annualized per user emissions in low population density areas (<9 people per km2) range from 0.18-9.6 kg CO2 eq./user, compared to 0.015-0.12 kg CO2 eq./user for high population density areas (>958 people per km2). Moreover, Annualized Total Cost of Ownership per user is 12-90 times lower in high population density areas (>958 people per km2) compared to sparsely populated regions (<9 people per km2). Thus, 48% (about 550 million) of the total Sub-Saharan African population live in areas where FTTnb is viable within the next ten years.

cs.NI↗