For example: Near the top of the article is the sentence: "Kessler syndrome is bad; atmospheric incineration may be worse, says astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell"
So, I searched for "kessler syndrome". Here's the hyperlink for reference: https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=kessler+syndrome&ia=web
Now here is the cool part. I found a Wikipedia article about "kessler syndrome" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome and it explained why this matters!
edit: removed my own snark. sorry for that.
The earth's atmosphere is pretty big, and sattelites are just made out of aluminum and crap. I don't think it is a big deal.
I could search this topic on google scholar for hours, but I can already tell the result is that I would probably find nothing of substance.
This is misleading, they're already in a very low orbit and would deorbit on their own in a just few years. They can manoeuver to explicitly deorbit on command, but they need active stationkeeping to stay up there for extended periods.
One to two Starlink satellites are falling back to Earth each day - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45493143 - 6 Oct 2025 (336 comments)
Cost of building + launch, per satellite, any ideas?
How much is Elon _actually_ burning here? Is Starlink going to have a positive ROI at some point?
And that's if they only have 10m customers - which I suspect is a lot more considering it's a worldwide service.
timschmidt•2h ago
> What that means for our planet isn't entirely clear
100 tons of meteors hit Earth every day[1], so it seems fairly clear the 800kg Starlink v2 mini satellites[2] don't amount to much. Maybe once a dozen providers are deorbiting a similar amount of mass daily, we might notice. But even then I'm not sure there would be any negative effects. This seems like clickbait scare mongering at the moment.
1: https://pressbooks.online.ucf.edu/astronomybc/chapter/14-1-m...
2: https://dishycentral.com/how-big-are-starlink-satellites
goopypoop•2h ago
> The total mass of meteoric material entering Earth’s atmosphere is estimated to be about 100 tons per day
timschmidt•2h ago
On average, something like 17 meteors large enough to strike the ground hit earth daily.
thayne•2h ago
andsoitis•2h ago
They also contain other siderophilic metals, including cobalt, chromium, gold, platinum, iridium, and tungsten. The high concentration of these metals, especially precious metals like gold and platinum, is due to their affinity for sinking to the core of early planets and asteroids, which are remnants of the primordial solar system.
timschmidt•2h ago
eesmith•2h ago
Estimates I've seen are that the amount of Al in the upper atmosphere will be dominated by satellite demise. And we don't know how that will affect things.
The history of CFC and the ozone layer suggests caution.
SeanAnderson•2h ago
timschmidt•1h ago
khuey•1h ago
rkomorn•1h ago
fumblertzu•2h ago
timschmidt•2h ago
eesmith•1h ago
> ... the satellites are mostly aluminum; most meteoroids, in contrast, contain less than 1% Al by mass 25 . Thus, depending on the atmospheric residence time of material from reentered satellites, each mega-constellation will produce fine particulates that could greatly exceed natural forms of high-altitude atmospheric aluminum deposition, particularly if the full numbers of envisaged satellites are launched. Anthropogenic deposition of aluminum in the atmosphere has long been proposed in the context of geoengineering as a way to alter Earth’s albedo 26 . These proposals have been scientifically controversial and controlled experiments encountered substantial opposition 27 . Mega-constellations will begin this process as an uncontrolled experiment 28 .
Or from https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.adr9689
> Concerns are mostly focused on aluminum, the most common component in satellites. If the disintegrated metal ends up as aluminum oxide or hydroxide, it can react with hydrogen chloride — the main reservoir of chlorine in the stratosphere, a hangover from the days of chlorofluorocarbons — to produce aluminum chloride. Hydrogen chloride is a relatively safe repository for chlorine, but aluminum chloride is easily split apart by light, freeing the chlorine to destroy ozone. Metal aerosols could also seed the creation of more polar stratospheric clouds, which catalyze reactions that liberate destructive forms of chlorine. “One can speculate, but without critical laboratory measurements of the chemistry, it’s very hard to know [the effects],” says John Plane, an atmospheric chemist at the University of Leeds. ... “You have to wonder whether [SpaceX] is creating a major problem 30 years from now,” Lionnet says.
timschmidt•46m ago
You're right that it's released into the lower atmosphere, though I'm sure smoke stacks loft that significantly in many cases. And it's difficult for me to believe that a few hundred kg per day, even if all of it ended up in the upper atmosphere, is anything more than a blip in comparison to what lofts up from industry.
The difference would have to be many thousands of times worse for upper atmosphere releases for it to even register.
throwup238•2h ago
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_dust
[2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012821X2...
mrtksn•2h ago
(in batches, obviously)