Satellites Could Deplete Earth’s Ozone Layer: Study

Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites could damage the Earth’s protective ozone layer when they are deorbited, new research suggests, Vishwam Sankaran reported for The Independent.

SpaceX has launched more than 6,000 satellites to provide internet service, with each new model getting heavier. I Photo: M. Lewinsky / Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 /  National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab)

Mega satellite constellations like SpaceX’s Starlink emit copious amounts of aluminum oxide gas into the atmosphere, which could deplete the ozone layer, according to research published last week in the journal Geophysical Research Letters (GRL).

SpaceX has launched more than 6,000 satellites to provide internet service, with each new model getting heavier.

These satellites are designed to burn up in the atmosphere when their service lives end, researchers from the University of Southern California say. Aluminum oxides deplete ozone by causing it to react destructively with chlorine, the study states.

The oxides can stay in the atmosphere and destroy the ozone layer for decades, researchers warn.

“Only in recent years have people started to think this might become a problem,” says Joseph Wang, one of the study’s authors. “We were one of the first teams to look at what the implications of these facts might be.”

“The environmental impacts from the reentry of satellites are poorly understood,” scientists say.

A small satellite produces about 30 kg of aluminum oxides when it burns up. In 2022, falling satellites may have contributed about 17 tons of aluminum oxide particles. When all the planned satellite constellations are in place, more than 350 tons of aluminum oxides will be released each year.

This is a significant increase of nearly 650% over natural atmospheric levels.