The U.S. commercial remote sensing industry has gotten a big boost with the loosening of government restrictions on the collection and sale of commercial satellite imagery, hardware, products and services. However, arms control advocates are concerned that the goverment's move to commercialize remote sensing functions is, in effect, enlisting private industry in the militarization of space.
Researchers at the University of California at Santa Barbara are researching nanotechnology to develop new techniques and technologies for the conservation of natural resources and environmental restoration.
Researchers at the Center for Russian Environmental Policy warn that space activity is having an adverse environmental impact on both land and in outer space.