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Satellites and spacecraft are polluting one of the remotest parts of the Earth's atmosphere with alarming quantities of metals, a new study found.and falling bits of space junk that are supposed to safely burn up during re-entry are actually significantly changing the composition and chemistry of the stratosphere, a layer of sky that contains most of the ozone.
It's too soon to know the effects of this pollution, the researchers said, but it nonetheless adds to growing concern over the skyrocketing space industry's environmental toll.The researchers flew planes nearly 12 miles up, or about double the cruising altitude of most airliners, gathering data with instruments hitched to the nose of their aircraft to ensure their detections would not be contaminated by fumes.
In addition, nearly 10 percent of sulfuric acid particles, which are crucial aerosols that shield the ozone layer, were found laced with vaporized spacecraft remnants. The presence of other more "exotic elements" like the metal niobium, the researchers wrote, are an "unequivocal signal" of heat shields used in rockets.
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