Earth's atmosphere is filling up with tiny metal particles
WeirdNews
Dead spacecraft are to blame for it
(Web Desk) - Tiny particles of metal are gathering in the atmosphere as a result of decommissioned satellites and rockets falling back to Earth and burning up on reentry
Decades-worth of burnt up rocket bodies and satellites have left a signature of tiny metal particles scattered in Earth's atmosphere, a new study finds.
And the problem that will only get worse as commercial space launches become more frequent and satellite constellations grow, the research warns.
The number of satellites in orbit around the Earth has increased dramatically in recent years, as private companies like SpaceX have built vast constellations of communications satellites.
Daniel Murphy, a researcher at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Chemical Sciences Laboratory and lead author on the study, said it’s unclear if the tiny pieces of metal have a negative impact on the environment or human health.
"We don't understand the implications and the industry that's putting them there, the spaceflight industry, is growing very, very rapidly," he told The Messenger.
"So I think we'd like to understand them sooner rather than later."
Murphy cautioned that there isn't evidence to suggest the particles affect humans directly, and that they tend to be found at altitudes higher than most commercial airlines fly.
But, he said, the worry is that having more metals in this region of the stratosphere could have a knock-on effect on other layers and processes in the rest of the Earth's atmosphere.
The discovery was made using data gathered by a special NASA research plane fitted with an instrument that analyzes the elements in the atmosphere called a spectrometer.
The researchers found evidence of metals like niobium, copper, lithium and aluminum that Murphy said most likely came from burnt up rocket and satellite remains.
When metallic objects reenter the Earth’s atmosphere, they disintegrate and burn as a result of friction.
"Up to 90% of satellites and spent upper stages reentering from orbit are vaporized; lower stages also ablate but to a lesser degree," the authors wrote in the study.
And while metals can also be deposited in the atmosphere by meteors, the difference in total mass between rockets and satellites and these meteors is staggering: hundreds of tons versus micrograms.
