Space junk is overflowing, threatening the Earth's magnetic field

Dead satellites are filling space with garbage. Soon, humans will release the equivalent of at least one Eiffel Tower's worth of metallic ash into the ionosphere each year, damaging the Earth's magnetic field.

A dead spacecraft the size of a truck burst into flames with plasma, then dissolved into dust and trash as it tore through the ionosphere and atmosphere. This is what happens to Internet service satellites during re-entry into Earth's atmosphere.

The earth is covered with toxic waste

Entrepreneurs are betting on disposable satellites as the new means of getting rich. Currently there are nearly 10,000 satellites in operation. Many companies are working as quickly as possible to put tens of thousands more satellites into orbit, aiming to reach 1 million within the next three to four decades.

Space junk, created by dead and dying commercial satellites, can damage the ionosphere or magnetosphere, also known as Earth's plasma environment - (Photo: Alamy).

Dr Jonathan McDowell, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said: " We could have up to 100,000 satellites within 10 to 15 years." These satellites power hyper-connected Internet services and could turn a few billionaires into trillionaires. However, the price to pay is that the Earth will be covered with toxic waste.

Space, contrary to popular belief, is not a giant self-cleaning void. Space contains systems like the magnetosphere, which help us survive and provide oxygen by protecting the atmosphere. The space around Earth is a cocoon of plasma harboring life.

Garbage affects the Earth's magnetic field

In The Guardian , author Sierra Solter, a plasma physicist, finds that space junk – created by dead and dying commercial satellites – can damage the ionosphere or the magnetosphere. , also known as Earth's plasma environment.

After studying for more than a year, Solter said he has no doubt that extreme levels of pollution will disrupt Earth's fragile plasma environment, in any number of ways. Yet few people are discussing this potential crisis.

When investigating how much dust the space industry was dumping in the form of satellite and rocket debris into the ionosphere during atmospheric re-entry, Solter was alarmed to discover that the amount of metal ash was now many times greater. times the amount of metallic ash in the Eiffel Tower.

He couldn't even calculate it if it weren't for the website run by a scientist. The ozone layer is not thick enough to carry an annual amount of metal ash equivalent to at least one Eiffel Tower. All this waste will stay in space, indefinitely.

According to the plasma physicist, people do not even have a clear estimate of the mass of all regions in the magnetosphere, but dump into it fragments of countless giant spacecraft.

Unlike small meteorites that contain only small amounts of aluminum, spacecraft are huge, made entirely of aluminum and other exotic, highly conductive materials. They can create a charging effect and act as a magnetic shield.

If all of these conductive materials accumulate into a giant layer of junk, they could capture or deflect all or part of our magnetic field. Imagine how 100,000 or more satellites, as well as their junk, could disrupt the magnetic field.

Even creating only regional ionospheric disturbances, such as in spaceflight areas, can cause holes in the upper ozone layer. This could erode Earth's atmosphere over time, putting the place at risk of losing its habitability.

The space industry is harmful to life

Low Earth orbit is being promoted as a "destination and economy " for satellites and even hotels in low-gravity space. These types of projects seem to constantly be "coming soon" and then cancelled.

Plasma physicist Sierra Solter said space companies should stop launching satellites if they cannot provide studies showing that pollution is not harmful to the stratosphere and magnetosphere.

"People like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos constantly claim that space is the key to human longevity. But what if it's the opposite? What if the space industry is the vehicle that leads to Earth's doom? And what if all the pollution that space entrepreneurs are creating is so unresearched, so inaccessible, that we don't even understand the risks ? he asked.

The Earth's magnetic field keeps us alive and needs protection just like the Earth's environment. The magnetosphere is Earth's first line of defense against the Sun, with many at stake. Any contamination of the magnetosphere needs to be closely studied and monitored.

If an asteroid heads toward Earth, we will activate defensive surveillance. But because it's a man-made object that impacts the atmosphere, we don't monitor it.