A team of researchers at Université de Toulouse has attempted to calculate the entire global footprint of space science, including both ground-based and space-based observatories. In their paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy, the team suggests the footprint of space science adds up to 1.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere each year, and it has a lifetime footprint of 20.3 million metric tons. Andrew Ross Wilson, with the University of Strathclyde, has published a News & Views piece in the same journal issue describing the difficulty in calculating the footprint of astronomical research efforts and the methods that are used to do so; he also outlines the work done by the team with this new effort.