The Earth’s ozone layer may be in the process of being destroyed by internet satellite networks like Elon Musk’s Starlink, according to University of Southern California experts. According to research that was published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, SpaceX’s Starlink is allegedly spewing large volumes of gaseous aluminum oxide into the atmosphere, which has the potential to deplete the ozone layer.
Human survival depends on the ozone layer. It filters out the sun’s damaging UV rays, which can lead to skin cancer when exposed to them and even interfere with food production and agricultural harvests.
According to a statement by co-author and University of Southern California astronautics researcher Joseph Wang, “Only in recent years have people started to think this might become a problem. We were one of first teams to look at what the implication of these facts might be,”
The typical lifespan of internet satellites in low Earth orbit is only five years. And approximately 6,000 of the over 8,000 broadband satellites in low-Earth orbit at the moment are Starlink satellites.
According to experts, these satellites are built to burn in the atmosphere when their useful life are over. They might therefore emit almost a thousand tons of aluminum oxide yearly, an increase of 646 percent over natural levels.
Ozone is depleted by aluminum oxides because they cause ozone to react destructively with chlorine.
“Satellites burn up at the end of service life during reentry, generating aluminium oxides as the main byproduct.” The researchers noted, “These are known catalysts for chlorine activation that depletes ozone in the stratosphere.”
“We find that the demise of a typical 250-kg satellite can generate around 30 kg of aluminium oxide nanoparticles, which may endure for decades in the atmosphere,” they concluded.
The study also discovered that, with current plans for satellite launches, the abundance of these oxides might expand even more, with an approximate eight-fold increase observed between 2016 and 2022.
Amazon and other internet-based companies also want to launch thousands more satellites in the future. Meanwhile, SpaceX alone has been given approval to launch an additional 42,000 Starlink satellites.
Concerns over space debris, which may lead to collisions and harm other spacecraft, are further heightened by the quick rise in the number of satellites.
