this post was submitted on 11 Mar 2025
6 points (87.5% liked)

Earth, Environment, and Geosciences

2041 readers
15 users here now

Welcome to c/EarthScience @ Mander.xyz!



Notice Board

This is a work in progress, please don't mind the mess.



What is geoscience?

Geoscience (also called Earth Science) is the study of Earth. Geoscience includes so much more than rocks and volcanoes, it studies the processes that form and shape Earth's surface, the natural resources we use, and how water and ecosystems are interconnected. Geoscience uses tools and techniques from other science fields as well, such as chemistry, physics, biology, and math! Read more...

Quick Facts

Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Be kind and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.


Jobs

Teaching Resources

Tools

Climate



Similar Communities


Sister Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Plants & Gardening

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Memes

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/19378689

MIT aerospace engineers have found that greenhouse gas emissions are changing the environment of near-Earth space in ways that, over time, will reduce the number of satellites that can sustainably operate there.

In a study appearing today in Nature Sustainability, the researchers report that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases can cause the upper atmosphere to shrink. An atmospheric layer of special interest is the thermosphere, where the International Space Station and most satellites orbit today. When the thermosphere contracts, the decreasing density reduces atmospheric drag — a force that pulls old satellites and other debris down to altitudes where they will encounter air molecules and burn up.

Less drag therefore means extended lifetimes for space junk, which will litter sought-after regions for decades and increase the potential for collisions in orbit.

[...]

Their predictions forecast out to the year 2100, but the team says that certain shells in the atmosphere today are already crowding up with satellites, particularly from recent “megaconstellations” such as SpaceX’s Starlink, which comprises fleets of thousands of small internet satellites.

“The megaconstellation is a new trend, and we’re showing that because of climate change, we’re going to have a reduced capacity in orbit,” Linares says. “And in local regions, we’re close to approaching this capacity value today.”

“We rely on the atmosphere to clean up our debris. If the atmosphere is changing, then the debris environment will change too,” Parker adds. “We show the long-term outlook on orbital debris is critically dependent on curbing our greenhouse gas emissions.”

[...]

no comments (yet)
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
there doesn't seem to be anything here