During a three-day workshop from 4th – 6th July 2023 a group of 30 experts from academia, agencies and industry came together at the Space Center Baden Württemberg to access the status of research on “Life Cycle Assessment of Space Transportation Systems” in order to identify necessary measures for a better understanding of the environmental impacts. In the following, on 5th February 2024, 34 experts discussed online the results of the workshop and further worked on the whitepaper.
Based on a series of presentations where the participants presented their expertise three working groups discussed the status of knowledge and further measures. These working groups were: LCA methodology, launch emissions and re-entry emissions. In these groups, a discussion about the knowledge gaps, key questions and already known answers from other departments as well as possible solutions was conducted. At the end of the workshop, measures for dedicated implementation concepts were defined. These conclusions are summarised in this paper.