this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2024
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Astronomy

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 13 hours ago

It’s not the only problem with them, and potentially not the biggest either - there is no plan to remove or maintain them when they die other than de-orbiting them into the upper atmosphere. A recent study suggests that this will critically harm the ozone layer, and that adding metallic particles in the quantities implied by the number of starlink satellites that Elmo plans to launch could do far more damage to the ozone layer than our previous attempts to screw it up!

Article - https://www.sciencealert.com/satellites-like-starlink-could-pose-new-threat-to-our-healing-ozone-layer

Study - https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2024GL109280