Life cycle assessment and possible impacts of CFRPs for space applications

Abstract

Life-cycle assessment, or LCA, is an environmental management technique that considers all the aspects of resources use and environmental releases associated with an industrial product, service or a system. LCA is intended for comparison and not absolute evaluation, in this way assisting decision makers when choosing between alternative courses of action. In Space applications, LCA is used to evaluate environmental impacts from early research & design stage to the mission end according to United Nations General Assembly declaration for the need of development of Space Technologies that minimize the environmental impact. More specifically, in the frame of SpaceCarbon project, preliminary research design laboratory activities have been studied by the Life Cycle Assessment technique and environmental impact hotspots were identified, mainly the use of carbon fibres and epoxy resin which affect mainly “climate” and “resources” environmental damage categories. This is explained by the high energy intensity of carbon fibres production, petrochemical origin of carbon fibre preform, epoxy resin toxicity and related emissions (NOx, SO2). It is worth pointing out though, that weight reduction and related energy savings (e.g. reduction of fuels consumption), longevity of space technology application in the use phase are beneficial for the environmental impacts minimization.