Hey there, space enthusiasts! 🚀 Did you know that the air around our planet is changing because of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide? Scientists from MIT and the University of Birmingham have found out something surprising: these gases might make it harder to have as many satellites orbiting Earth in the future!
Here’s what’s happening: Greenhouse gases are making the upper parts of our atmosphere get colder and shrink. Think of it like a blanket that’s getting thinner. This means there’s less “air” up there to slow down old satellites and space junk.
Usually, this thin air helps push old satellites back towards Earth so they burn up safely. But if there’s less air, old satellites and debris stay in space longer, making space around Earth more crowded! 🌠
William Parker, a student who led the study, said, “The sky is quite literally falling—but very slowly!” 📉 Their research shows that if we keep releasing greenhouse gases, the area where satellites orbit might become so crowded that the number of satellites we can safely have up there could drop by over half by the year 2100!
In the last five years, we’ve launched more satellites than in the past 60 years combined! That’s a lot of satellites helping us with GPS, internet, and studying our planet. But if space gets too crowded, there could be more crashes and even more space junk. 🛰️🚫
So, what can we do? We need to take care of our Earth by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. That way, we can keep exploring space safely and make sure there’s room up there for all our cool satellites! 🌟
Reference(s):
Greenhouse gases weakening LEO's satellite carrying capacity
cgtn.com
