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Humanity’s drive to win space is undisputed. Recently, Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship exploded a 10 -minute explosion at the latest flight test. However, ‘Failure’ did not ask him to ‘colonize’ to ‘Mars’ from his project-a plan that has been widely talked about, since US President Donald Trump’s Dogi’s Major-Domo announced this in September 2024.
But at what cost? What is a human being is carrying on the boundaries?
Amid the already rising levels of plague regions around the world, scientists have now detected another pollutant – space debris – which threatens the stratosphere of the Earth, the atmospheric region that keeps our planet’s delicate, protective ozone layer.
Livamint It seems to be a deep dive why it is a cause for concern.
Satellites ‘Choking’ Up Space – What is happening?
In January 2025, more than 100 communication satellites were burnt in the Earth’s atmosphere, as they crashed towards the planet at a speed of eight km per second, Economist,
When the satellites are burnt, they leave the particles of metals such as aluminum, copper, lithium and nyobium into the stratosphere. This layer is responsible for absorbing harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the Sun, which protects life on earth.
Why is this a concern?
Incidents of space debris inhibit the Earth’s atmosphere. In addition, the atmosphere of the blue planet has also been bombed by foreign bodies, such as meteorite and cosmic dust, for billions of years. Currently with about 11,000 satellites in the Earth’s orbit, space debris from satellites, however, has now become a concern.
Burning these satellites sends ‘separate metals’ to the atmosphere, John Plane of the University of Leeds told EconomistFor example, aluminum particles can react with oxygen to create alumina, forming a surface for other chemical reactions. A reaction can release chlorine, a substance that destroys ozone, which protects the earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation.
A 2023 study by scientists American (SCI AM) has also shown that metals are accumulating within sulfuric acid particles, which form most of the stratosphere particles and affect our world’s ozone layer and climate.
What is the way out?
Many experts have mentioned that making small satellites can reduce the dangers caused by growing space debris. For example, Starlink’s spacecraft weighs at around 800 kg launch, and Elon Musk predicted that the coming generations could be even more heavy. But low weight satellite can significantly reduce the harmful effects of the collision.
According to a magazine from the Federation of American scientists, reusable rockets and maneuvering satellites can help deal with the issue of raising junk.
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