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Explain that, science nerds! (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/science_memes@mander.xyz
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[–] 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 child)

There’s a chance that the aluminum residue from hundreds of annual rocket launches will destroy the ozone layer, without which the earth will lose its atmosphere relatively quickly.

*the aluminum is from all of our satellites burning up on reentry, which makes way more sense.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    will destroy the ozone layer, without which the earth will lose its atmosphere relatively quickly.

    What?

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    The aluminum and other metals in the space crafts bond with the ozone, which could fuck with our magnetosphere. It turns out it’s mostly from satellites burning up on reentry, which makes way more sense though.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (2 children)

    And a messed up ozone layer means the atmosphere will... disappear?

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    If the ozone layer fills with metallic alloys, it fucks with the magnetosphere, potentially to the point that the magnetosphere no longer protects us from solar winds, and that would lose us the atmosphere.

    It also might not be that serious, but there’s no way to know until there’s a problem. Companies are rapidly increasing the number of artificial satellites in our orbit without any consideration to the potential consequences though.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    Is this similar to the ozone depletion and ozone holes that were always a big deal in the early 2000s and had lead to bans of chlorofluorocarbons eg in refrigerants and other products, or is this an entirely different topic?

    To me it sounds similar so I wonder why the danger of Earth losing its atmosphere "very quickly" hadn't caused panic back then, it was only things like "stay inside so you don't get sunburns". Though the atmosphere disappearing would be a way bigger deal.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago

    It’s different because these are now metallic compounds, which can become magnetically charged and may be able to affect the magnetosphere.

    The magnetosphere is basically the ball of magnetic force around the earth that insulated us from solar winds.

    Solar winds can destroy planetary atmospheres, when the planet isn’t otherwise protected.

    The hole in the ozone layer was also a problem, but it’s more because the ozone layer protects us from a lot of ultraviolet light. The hole (which was not exactly a hole, but that works better for marketing) would have caused a bunch of cancer and exposed us to higher levels of toxic ozone on the ground, which are both big problems, but not for all life on earth

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