Paul DekkersMar 1
Michele Bannister
"Rocket launches already contribute to climate change and ozone depletion. Scaling them up to deploy a million aircraft-sized satellites would push upper-atmosphere heating and ozone loss far beyond previous estimates, with the steady burn-up of dead satellites compounding the impacts." 🧪🛰️🚀

A new space race could turn ou...
A new space race could turn our atmosphere into a ‘crematorium for satellites’

Planned ‘megaconstellations’ of satellites could cause unforeseen harm to the ozone layer and climate systems. Global regulation is needed before it’s too late.

The Conversation
Feb 27 at 7:41amWeb
Show threadMichele BannisterFeb 27
Laura Revell, me & @[email protected]: "a million satellites could mean that a teragram of alumina accumulates in the upper atmosphere – enough, alongside launch emissions, to significantly alter atmospheric chemistry and heating in dramatic ways we do not yet understand."
Show threadMichele BannisterFeb 27
Never thought I'd be writing about our planet having on the order of one BILLION kilograms of burnt aluminum deliberately sprinkled on top this would be a Bad Idea, by the way
Show threada1Feb 27
@astrokiwi.bsky.social Can someone please stop Musk before the Kessler effect hits?