Missed you - this time!
Residents of Mukuku Village in Kenya narrowly escaped getting hit by a half-ton metal ring from a satellite launch rocket recently. Other space junk near misses are accumulating. One impact of space junk is hitting us all, minimally for now, but growing in magnitude. It’s the creation of tons of nanoparticles of aluminum oxide as satellites burn up when they de-orbit. Deorbiting is a big deal, in the thousands of satellites per year as Starlink and other arrays ramp up.
At the University of Southern California, Jose P. Ferriera and 3 colleagues looked in deep chemical detail how the aluminum oxides form. They went on to model how they activate the chlorine compounds in the upper atmosphere that are notorious for decreasing our protective ozone layer. The ozone layer has been improving since nations around the world signed the Montreal Protocol that banned or phased out production of chlorine-containing refrigerants and aerosol sprays that resist being decomposed fast. Ferreira’s group expressed concern that the upcoming rate of planned deorbiting of satellites will generate 360 tonnes of aluminum oxide each year. They are planning follow-up studies to quantify the effect on the ozone layer.
There are other options than all-out satellite deployment for communication; time for deeper thinking.
This has been an outreach activity of the Las Cruces Academy, viewable at GreatSchools.org
Source: Nature 20 Mar. 25, pp. 571 ff. and Geophysical Research Letters 10.1029/2024GL109280
Image: Same
