Starlink and Other Satellites Could Pose a Threat to Earth’s Atmosphere When They Die
Starlink satellites in orbit around our planet are changing the communications landscape, replacing giant radio antennas with eventually thousands of internet providers. However, experts now say they could pose a greater risk to humans than just blocking astronomers’ views of the cosmos.
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00:00Starlink satellites in orbit around our planet are changing the communications landscape,
00:08replacing giant radio antennas with eventually thousands of internet providers.
00:13However, experts now say they could pose a greater risk to humans than just blocking
00:16astronomers' views of the cosmos.
00:19Starlink says they want to put tens of thousands of these satellites into orbit over the next
00:22ten years.
00:23However, eventually they will become defunct and will re-enter our atmosphere and burn
00:27up.
00:28Scientists say when that happens, they will leave tiny particles of metal in our atmosphere.
00:32Now a new study has quantified just how much metal will be dumped into our air.
00:36Around 396 tons every year.
00:39The particles will initially be broken up just above the stratosphere, however the researchers
00:43say it will drift down into it.
00:44In that part of the atmosphere, a chemical reaction will occur and could create an ozone
00:49layer destroying situation.
00:50However, Starlink isn't the only culprit.
00:53A recent study has found that spacecraft re-entry has already injected an incredible amount
00:57of metal into our atmosphere, finding that 10% of all stratospheric aerosols already
01:02contain aluminum, with experts predicting that number will jump to 50% over the next
01:07several decades.