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Illustration of Salsa satellite satellite burning during re -introduction. | Credit: ESA/DAVID DUCROSS
A dramatic pursuit of planes on a falling spacecraft gave a new idea of the fiery processes that accompany the atmospheric death of retired satellites. Measurements will help scientists better understand how satellite air pollution affects the atmosphere of the earth.
In early September last year, a team of European scientists climbed a leased business aircraft on Easter island to track Atmospheric re -introduction of salsaone of European Space Agency‘S (ESA) four identical cluster satellites. The aircraft was equipped with 26 cameras to capture the short event at different wavelengths of light.
The first results of the unique monitoring campaign were published in early April in A European Conference on Space Comes in Bonn, Germany.
The creation of Salsa Cluster satellite on September 8, 2024. The spacecraft is seen as a tiny whitish point against the bright lunch sky. | Credit: ESA/Rosie/University of Southern Queensland
A satellite combustion, a meteor-like event, lasted less than 50 seconds, took place over the Pacific shortly before the local lunch time on September 8, 2024. Bright Daylight complicates observations and prevent the use of more powerful tools, which would provide more detailed views. However, the team was able to acquire a new idea of satellite burning, something that is a little understanding and difficult to study.
“The event was much worse, greater than we expected,” said Stefan Lele, a researcher at the Institute of Space Systems at the University of Stuttgart in Germany, “Space.com told. “We think that may mean that the breakup of satellite They produced fragments that were much more slow than the main site and produced less radiation. “
After the initial breakup at an altitude of about 50 miles (80 kilometers), the researchers were able to record the fragmentation in about 25 seconds. They lost a trace of the faded series of fragments at an altitude of about 25 miles (40 km). Using filters of different colors, the team was able to detect the release of different chemicals during burning, which provides tips for the nature of air pollution that occurs during the satellite burn process
“We found lithium, potassium and aluminum,” Lele said. “But at this stage we do not know how many of it finds itself in the atmosphere as long -term air pollution and how much it falls to Land in the form of small droplets. “
Satellite are increasing concern For the global atmospheric scientific community. The satellites are made of aluminum, the burning of which produces aluminum oxide, also known as aluminum. Scientists know that aluminum can trigger the depletion of ozone And they change Earth’s ability to reflect sunlight, which in turn could change the thermal balance of the atmosphere.
With Increase satellite launchesMany more satellites fall back to the ground. Whatever by -products occur during atmospheric burning, it will probably continue to accumulate high above the ground in the coming years. However, the effects of this satellite air pollution are not well understood. The altitude at which the satellites fall apart are too high to reach meteorological balloons, but too low to try satellites.
Pursuits, such as the one who follows the re -introduction of the cluster salsa last year, provide the best chance to collect accurate data on the chemical processes that unfold during these events. However, such campaigns are quite expensive and difficult to implement. So far, only five spacecraft broadcasts have been traced from the air; Previous cases included ARIANE rocket scene and three International Space Station vehicles.
“Currently, the researchers who model these events do not really know what is happening during the satellite fragmentation,” Lele said. “This is the first thing we need to answer. We want to be sure that nothing falls on people’s heads. Then we have to understand how harmful these things are The earth’s atmosphereS “
The data captured by Lele and his colleagues suggest that the 1200-pound (550 kilograms) fuel tanks may have experienced re-entry and have probably been sprayed in the Pacific. This is important information. Average, Three satellites return to the ground every dayAccording to a report published by ESA last month.
Most of these satellites belong to Spacex Starlink Megaconstellation. While the first generation Starlinks weighed only about 570 pounds (260 kg) each, the current V2 Mini version of the satellite has a mass of about £ 1760 (800 kg). The planned V2 version will be even larger, weighing £ 2750 (1250 kg). Although SpaceX claims satellites are designed to burn completely, the company Earlier That some remains can sometimes reach the earth’s surface.
The European team continues to analyze the data and hopes to bring its observations with computer models that could give an additional idea of the progression of events during satellite fragmentation and subsequent burning.
“We compare what we saw with satellite fragmentation models to find out how much mass is lost at what stage,” Space.com, based on Space.com, based in Slovakia, based in Slovakia, which coordinates the monitoring campaign. “Once we have a alignment between these models and our observations, we may be able to start modeling how tolerable metal interacts with the atmosphere.”
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Lele explained that the researchers so far have too little understanding of the combustion process so that they can judge how many satellite repeated re -influences the atmosphere. The decaying aluminum body of re -entry into a satellite melts, forming large droplets of molten metal. Some of these droplets evaporate into an aerosol of the aluminum oxide, while others spread and cool, eventually move to the ground in the form of nano and micrometer pieces of aluminum. The aluminum that turns into an aerosol is what then triggered Ozone and other climate effects.
“We still have no information so that we can say how many of it becomes the aerosol,” Lele said. “We hope that at one point we will be able to recreate a sequence of fragmentation and say how much aluminum each of the next explosions released in the upper atmosphere.”
Researchers hope to collect more data when the three siblings of Cluster Salsa – Rumba, Tango and Samba – again enter in 2025 and 2026. The satellite quartet has been touring the Earth since 2000, measuring the magnetic field of the planet and its interactions with The sunbreeS
However, all these repetitions will also happen during the day, which means that the researchers will not be able to obtain measurements of spectroscopy, which can reveal the chemical processes in the cloud of fragmentation more detailed. Spectroscopy is a method of observation that breaks the incoming light in the individual wavelengths. However, the signal from re -entering the spacecraft is too weak and hits the bright sunlight.