Goodbye ozone layer, it was nice while it lasted. There will be lots of other atmospheric consequences and casualties on the ground if SpaceX actually launches and burns up a multi-ton satellite on average every few minutes, as they plan to do. Also goodbye astronomy research, goodbye night sky, and helllooooo Kessler Syndrome!
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@sundogplanets They're planning to do graveyard orbit followed by orbital recycling and/or heliocentric disposal for the higher number of satellites, not atmospheric.
@Robotbeat I'll believe the recycling when I see it. They'll do atmospheric disposal as long as they are not prohibited from doing it.
@sundogplanets Just trying to be accurate.
@sundogplanets I see you have a bazillion comments and questions, so I know you may not have the time or spoons for this one, but I'm curious:
I recently learned that the DoD has to approve wind farms before they can be built because the turbines interfere with radar, thus representing a "national security threat." (grist.org/energy/pentagon_wind/)
Do you know if the DoD cares at all about the risk of Kessler Syndrome? GPS is integral to modern military tech, so I'd think there would be the same rational for regulating satellite launches (and atmospheric burns), but I don't see any evidence of that.
Is it all just political bullshit, or is the Pentagon just not as concerned about the [possible] loss of GPS as it is the [actual] radar interference?
@nisemikol This is an extremely good question, which I have often wondered about myself. I don't have an answer for you! It absolutely seems to me that they should be very very concerned...
@sundogplanets right?? I appreciate you for taking the time to reply regardless 🫶
@sundogplanets I remember well when we protested on the streets and against politicians and companies to stop the use of greenhouse gases in aerosol cans and fridges etc destroying the ozone layer. And we reached the Montreal protocol https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Protocol
So many countries united, even the industry.
And now comes just one guy and his company doing what he wants, destroying all that. It makes me extremely angry!
Your work is so important! Thank you for doing it! 
Still feeling quite depressed and frustrated about this. But the comments and questions here remind me that there's still a lot of education work to do about satellite pollution, and that is something I DO have power over.
So, I'm going to work through some of the frustration by pulling weeds until it gets too hot out, then I'm going to sign this book contract I've been stressing out about for a couple weeks and use that opportunity teach more people how bad megaconstellations are!
@sundogplanets Thank you. Please take good care of yourself; in this fight, you're irreplaceable!
@sundogplanets Some days it’s hard not to feel completely helpless and overwhelmed.
@sundogplanets We are currently witnessing the triumph of stupidity, which is unique to the human race.
And this will lead to our extinction.
So what?
@sundogplanets So we lose the Ozone layer and New Zealand and Australia become uninhabitable either from the increase in radiation, or the difficulty of food production because of increased radiation
@sundogplanets My understanding about the ozone layer is that chlorofluorocarbons or CFCs used in (or as) refrigerants were eating it away until they were banned and replaced by less lethal (to ozone layer) refrigerants. Since then, the ozone layer has more or less recovered. So, are you saying this operation with satellites will once again threaten the ozone layer?
Rocket launches _also_ make holes in the ozone layer.
(This has been known for decades.)
So far, rocket launches haven't been that many, so we could think of other things first.
In other words, the first sentence in the original post above is very much to the point.
@vnikolov @sundogplanets So, to put it simply, launching more and more satellites means more and more holes in the ozone layer? If this has been known for a long time, why is this being allowed? Is this another case of dismissing known facts just as climate collapse is dismissed by so many who only want to make more money?
In my understanding:
Given that, _in isolation_, the hole in the ozone layer after a rocket launch is temporary,
given that until now or recently launches weren't that many,
and given that chlorofluorocarbon emissions were correctly recognized as the primary threat,
the efforts and the attention focussed on the latter.
(Don't take my word for the above: there must be sufficiently many publicly available accounts of these matters.)
Now the number of launches is increasing significantly, but there are other acute issues already claiming attention, like wars, climate change, or LLMs,
so it is understandable, even though inexcusable, that few (it seems) people care about this matter.
To repeat the well-known, attention is a precious, but scarce resource.
@flyhigh https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/2025EF007229
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2024GL109280
But the scary part is we don't actually know what will happen!
@sundogplanets Why are they still doing those things instead of fulfilling their actual contract with NASA to build a lunar lander?
@sundogplanets That rich arsehole could genuinely be our Lex Luthor who accidentally (read recklessly) destroys our world
@sundogplanets we’re just getting closer and closer huh? then we get to hear about bailing out these companies who ruined it for everyone...
