From: naddy@mips.inka.de   
      
   On 2026-01-07, Alexander Schreiber  wrote:   
      
   >> Wow, are the satellites gonna burn up the atmosphere ?   
   >   
   > Well, not _the_ atmosphere, but burning up _in_ the atmosphere on the   
   > inevitable fiery re-entry. That wasn't much of a problem when that was   
   > just happening every once in a while, but with the size of the Starlink   
   > fleet and their service life, they have 1-2 satellites burn up in re-entry   
   > every day, injecting a lovely collection of burned metals, plastics and   
   > other stuff into the atmosphere.   
      
   Specifically aluminum oxide nanoparticles that catalyze the release   
   of chlorine, which breaks down ozone.   
      
   "Potential Ozone Depletion From Satellite Demise During Atmospheric   
    Reentry in the Era of Mega-Constellations"   
      
   | With ongoing plans for many constellations of small satellites,   
   | the number of objects orbiting the Earth is expected to continue   
   | increasing in the foreseeable future. At the end of service life,   
   | satellites are disposed into the atmosphere, burning up during   
   | the process and generating aluminum oxides, which are known to   
   | accelerate ozone depletion. The environmental impacts from the   
   | reentry of satellites are currently poorly understood. This paper   
   | investigates the oxidation process of the satellite's aluminum   
   | content during atmospheric reentry utilizing atomic-scale molecular   
   | dynamics simulations. We find that the population of reentering   
   | satellites in 2022 caused a 29.5% increase of aluminum in the   
   | atmosphere above the natural level, resulting in around 17 metric   
   | tons of aluminum oxides injected into the mesosphere. The byproducts   
   | generated by the reentry of satellites in a future scenario where   
   | mega-constellations come to fruition can reach over 360 metric   
   | tons per year. As aluminum oxide nanoparticles may remain in the   
   | atmosphere for decades, they can cause significant ozone depletion.   
      
   https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL109280   
      
   --   
   Christian "naddy" Weisgerber                          naddy@mips.inka.de   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)