Dead satellites are filling space with debris. Soon, humans will be releasing an amount of metallic ash equivalent to at least one Eiffel Tower into the ionosphere each year, harming the Earth’s magnetic field.
A dead spacecraft, the size of a truck, burns with plasma, then disintegrates into dust and debris as it tears through the ionosphere and atmosphere. This is what happens to Internet service satellites during their re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere.
The Earth Covered in Toxic Waste
Entrepreneurs are betting on disposable satellites as a new wealth-generating vehicle. Currently, there are nearly 10,000 operational satellites. Many companies are racing to launch tens of thousands more into orbit, aiming for a total of 1 million satellites within the next 3 to 4 decades.
Space debris, produced by dead and dying commercial satellites, can harm the ionosphere or magnetosphere, also known as Earth’s plasma environment – (Photo: Alamy).
Dr. Jonathan McDowell from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said, “We could have up to 100,000 satellites within 10 to 15 years.” These satellites power hyper-connected Internet services and could transform some billionaires into trillionaires. However, the cost is that Earth will be covered in toxic waste.
Contrary to popular belief, space is not a vast vacuum capable of self-cleaning. Space contains systems like the magnetosphere, which help us survive and provide oxygen by protecting the atmosphere. The space around Earth is a plasma cocoon nurturing life.
Debris Affecting Earth’s Magnetic Field
In an article published in The Guardian, author Sierra Solter, a plasma physicist, found that space debris – generated by dead and dying commercial satellites – can harm the ionosphere or magnetosphere, also known as Earth’s plasma environment.
After researching for over a year, Solter expressed no doubt that the extreme levels of pollution would disrupt Earth’s fragile plasma environment in many ways. However, very few people are discussing this potential crisis.
While investigating how much dust the space industry has released in the form of satellite and rocket debris into the ionosphere during re-entry, Solter was horrified to discover that the amount of metallic ash is now many times greater than that of the Eiffel Tower.
He could barely calculate it without the help of a website run by a scientist. The ozone layer is not thick enough to absorb the annual amount of metallic ash equivalent to at least one Eiffel Tower. All this waste will remain in space indefinitely.
According to the plasma physicist, humans do not even have a clear estimate of the mass of all regions in the magnetosphere, yet we are introducing debris from countless massive spacecraft into it.
Unlike small meteoroids that contain only a small amount of aluminum, large spacecraft, made entirely of aluminum and other highly conductive exotic materials, can create charging effects and act as a magnetic shield.
If all this conductive material accumulates into a vast layer of debris, it could capture or deflect all or part of our magnetic field. Imagine how 100,000 or more satellites, along with their debris, could disrupt the magnetic field.
Even if they only create localized disturbances in the ionosphere, such as in areas of space flights, they could cause holes above the ozone layer. This could erode Earth’s atmosphere over time, placing it at risk of becoming uninhabitable.
The Space Industry Threatening Life
Low Earth orbit is being promoted as a “destination and economy” for satellites and even low-gravity space hotels. Such projects seem to be continually “on the verge of launching” and then canceled.
Plasma physicist Sierra Solter believes that space companies need to stop launching satellites if they cannot provide studies showing that pollution does not harm the stratosphere and magnetosphere.
“People like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos consistently claim that space is key to human longevity. But what if the opposite is true? What if the space industry is the vehicle leading to Earth’s demise? And what if all the pollution that space entrepreneurs are generating is so unstudied and inaccessible that we don’t even understand the risks?” he posed.
The Earth’s magnetic field keeps us alive and needs to be protected just like the Earth’s environment. The magnetosphere is Earth’s first line of defense against the Sun, with many risks involved. Any pollution of the magnetosphere also needs to be researched and closely monitored.
If an asteroid were heading towards Earth, we would activate defensive monitoring operations. But because it is human-made objects impacting the atmosphere, we are not monitoring it at all.
