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Internet satellite networks that are entering the atmosphere en masse could damage the ozone layer, a study warns.
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Elon Musk’s Starlink is the biggest player in this field.
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The effects could “pause the ozone success story for decades to come,” the scientists said.
Internet satellite networks like Elon Musk’s Starlink could contribute to ozone depletion, a new study claims.
Scientists at the University of Southern California’s Department of Astronautical Engineering have warned that the massive increase in Internet satellites in low Earth orbit could lead to harmful chemical reactions in the atmosphere.
There are currently more than 8,000 Internet satellites in low Earth orbit, of which about 6,000 are Starlink, according to a press release.
All are made with large amounts of aluminum and are designed with a short, roughly five-year lifespan, it added.
The problem comes when satellites enter Earth’s atmosphere to burn up, producing aluminum oxide, the scientists said, triggering a chemical reaction that is highly destructive to ozone.
The study, published last week in the peer-reviewed journal Geophysical Research Letters, found that the presence of the oxides increased roughly eightfold between 2016 and 2022 — and could grow much more with current plans to launch satellites.
SpaceX plans to launch 42,000 more Starlink satellites, according to Space.com. Other companies, including Amazon, have plans to release thousands more of their own, the study authors said.
Worse, the oxides are not consumed by the action, so the effect can last for decades as the particles drift downward, they added.
In 2022, 18.7 tons of alumina nanoparticles were released into the atmosphere by falling satellites, they said.
Looking at planned satellite launches, this could increase to 397 tons per year and could lead to “significant ozone depletion,” according to the study.
A revolution in high-speed Internet
The system for placing very small satellites in low Earth orbit allows for faster processing of larger volumes of data.
Earlier satellites ran much higher – at a cost to internet speed – but had a much longer lifespan.
Elon Musk started SpaceX, Starlink’s parent company, in 2002, building it into one of the biggest players in the space industry.
The first launch of experimental Starlink satellites was in 2019. Since then, launches have continued, forming a grid-like mega-constellation that has helped meet the huge demand for fast global Internet access — especially in Ukraine, where the technology is vital to the country’s defense communications .
Starlink’s X account said in May it served three million internet customers in 100 countries and territories.
Pressing pause on a rare success story
In the 1970s, the widespread use of chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, was found to be causing a huge hole in the ozone layer.
The 1987 ban on CFCs helped slow the process, and by 2013, authorities predicted that the ozone layer would recover within a few decades.
It was a rare success story among a host of global climate-related problems.
But that progress can now be halted, the USC scientists said.
“The unexpected increase in aluminum oxides could put a pause on the ozone success story in the coming decades,” they wrote.
In 2023, observers from the European Space Agency noted that the hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica was roughly three times the size of Brazil and was “one of the largest on record.”
At the time, the agency said it was too early to know the cause and did not mention the burning of the satellite among potential factors.
Starlink did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s after-hours request for comment.
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