Hundreds of defunct #satellites plunge through Earth’s #atmosphere yearly, and the count is rising.

The dying satellites, it turns out, don’t just wink out into the ether. Each one leaves a bit of itself behind.

The satellites’ fiery death throes, along with a steep rise in the number of rocket launches, are adding a glut of ozone-destroying and climate-altering pollutants to the #stratosphere.

For instance, aluminum oxides are catalysts for #ozone depletion.

#space
sciencenews.org/article/satell…

Satellite space junk might wreak havoc on the stratosphere

Hundreds of defunct satellites plunge toward Earth every year. Scientists are studying how the chemical stew left in their wake impacts the atmosphere.

^{Carolyn Gramling (Science News)}