Climate Charge Risks Damage Of Satellite Collisions
Over 25,000 satellites circle the Earth. When their orbits degrade and they fall toward the surface, they are burned up by the atmosphere’s friction; due to climate change, that protection has begun to disappear.
“Increasing greenhouse gas emissions will reduce the atmosphere’s ability to burn up old space junk, MIT scientists report,” the university reports.
Drag Of The Atmosphere
A summary shows, “When the thermosphere contracts, the decreasing density reduces atmospheric drag — a force that pulls old satellites and other debris down to altitudes where they will encounter air molecules and burn up.” The larger study appears in the journal “Nature Sustainability,”
Two issues come together to cause the risks. Greenhouse gas emissions will make the atmosphere less likely to cause the friction that burns up satellites. Thousands of new satellites will be launched each year’s “The upper atmosphere is in a fragile state as climate change disrupts the status quo,” adds lead author William Parker, a graduate student in AeroAstro.
10,000 Satellites
Among the added risks is that about 10,000 satellites are in what is known as “low orbits.” This, in general, means that they are more likely to fall. The economic cost of what could be the effects of hundreds of satelltes falling is impossible to calculate
Climate change has many negative effects. This is just a new one.
More from ClimateCrisis 247
- Massive Wildfires Ruin Parts Of South Korea
- Trump threats ignite talk of alternatives to Panama Canal
- New Orleans Home Insurance Could Rise 500%
- 200,000 Lives Threatened By EPA Rule Changes
