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Letter #26 Satellite mega-constellations' mega-threats: The rise of space junk and the fall of reason Above our heads, man-made satellites wage war against the stars. On
Earth, a handful of CEOs plan to put hundreds of thousands of satellites
in low Earth orbitin addition to the 5,0001 satellites already launched. Altogether, these satellites will outnumber the stars visible to the naked eye tenfold. In a previous article,
I described mega-constellations of satellites for telecommunications
and discussed astronomers' deep concerns about them. I'm a star-gazer
myself. Learning about the environmental impacts of this unprecedented
space program continues to shock me. Since the 1950s, communication satellites have been used for
long-distance voice and data transfer. Most satellites never come back
to Earth; at the end of their useful life, they become garbage. Today,
millions of objects orbit the Earth. Most of them no longer function:
they're space junk. Moriba Jah2 from Austin University explains that some
objects are as tiny as a speck of paint; some are as big as a school
bus. Less than one percent of these objects are tracked. Objects smaller
than 10 cm (four inches) cannot be tracked. Traveling at several
kilometres per second (tens of thousands of kilometers per hour), space
debris sometimes collide or explode, creating even more small,
untrackable, hazardous objects that can damage useful satellites or
inhabited spaceships. There are no traffic rules in space3. In 2020, the
inhabited International Space Station (ISS) nearly had three
catastrophic collisions with space debris. Satellite operators do not
always share information and their opinions on the location of space
debris can differ. In 2019, a European Space Agency (ESA) satellite
risked colliding with one of Elon Musk's Starlink satellitesbut the Agency could not reach Starlink's operators. The ESA's satellite had to change orbit, quickly. When space becomes too crowded with debris, a series of collisions
occur. Each collision produces more debris, increasing risk of yet more
collisions. Called the Kessler Syndrome4, we can only manage it by actively removing our telecom junk from space. Nature's1
May 2021 report reveals that each of Elon Musk's satellites operates
for only five to six yearsless than a personal computer. Musk swears
he'll take out his trash by having dead satellites re-enter the
atmosphere and turn into dust. So, beside his 42,000 functioning
satellites, expect an additional 4,200 de-orbiting satellites at all
times. Expect 8,400 new satellites launched each year to replace the
ones that no longer work. Every day, Starlink alone can produce about six tons of electronic waste
that re-enters the Earth's atmosphere. This junk increases the risk of
cascading collisions with untracked debris. Indeed, "a major
fragmentation event from a single satellite could affect all [satellite]
operators in LEO [Low Earth Orbit]".1 During satellites' re-entry into the atmosphere, pieces large enough
to harm people, wildlife and property can fall. NASA recommends a human
casualty risk lower than 1/10,000 per satellite re-entry. However,
launching permits do not consider the cumulative or combined risks of
launching hundreds of thousands of satellites. Operators do not always
respect safety standards1. Scientists find that pieces larger than 10 cm might not fully disintegrate when they fall back to Earth5,
and yet SpaceX claims that their next-generation satellites will
completely turn into dust. No agency has tested this claim; and no
agency can require other satellite operators to turn their debris into
dust. If you watch a falling satellite, make a wish that everyone will stay safe! During a satellite launch, rocket fuels (e.g. hydrazine) and rocket parts that contain hazardous substances may fall into the ocean and harm marine life.1 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).