Even the space junk designed with disposal in mind is a polluting presence around Earth, a new study has found. Those chunks of rocket and space station and dead satellites that burn up on atmospheric reentry leave miniscule traces of metal lingering...
15,000 Tons of material rains down on Earth from space each year. Only 5,200 Tons of it makes it down to the ground. The rest burns up.
So, 9,800 of stuff already burning up each year. Now, most of that is silica or carbon, but there are certainly also metals. Now, more metals from man made shit is a concern, but not maybe the most pressing things…
Then again, metal particles in the air are never good. And not something that you see in the atmosphere anywhere but metal foundries. It's actually quite the issue.
Overall, I'd say increasing the atmospheric metal content is a bad thing, but still less of an issue than some of the other things
15,000 Tons of material rains down on Earth from space each year. Only 5,200 Tons of it makes it down to the ground. The rest burns up.
So, 9,800 of stuff already burning up each year. Now, most of that is silica or carbon, but there are certainly also metals. Now, more metals from man made shit is a concern, but not maybe the most pressing things…
Then again, metal particles in the air are never good. And not something that you see in the atmosphere anywhere but metal foundries. It's actually quite the issue.
Overall, I'd say increasing the atmospheric metal content is a bad thing, but still less of an issue than some of the other things