Burning satellites in space is a huge threat to the ozone layer
- Alexander Svarre
- 4 minutes ago
- 1 min read
Twenty years ago there were 871 satellites in space, from figures published by Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
Today there are 14,300 active satellites orbiting the earth!
Many satellites are considered disposable and burnt after just five or 10 years, releasing heavy metal and carbon particles that sprinkle close to the Earth.
Harvard researchers and Rajan Chakrabarty of Washington University in St. Louis express that there are threats to the ozone layer from recent measurements and modeling.
“We’re really changing the composition of the stratosphere into a state that we’ve never seen before,” said John Dykema, physicist at SEAS
