- "PIRG estimates that when megaconstellation deployment reaches its peak, some 29 tons of metallic waste will be vaporizing in Earth's atmosphere every day, th

- "PIRG estimates that when megaconstellation deployment reaches its peak, some 29 tons of metallic waste will be vaporizing in Earth's atmosphere every day, the equivalent of "a car falling from space" every hour." - "Satellites are mostly made of aluminum, which forms aluminum oxide when burnt. Aluminum oxide, or alumina, contributes to ozone depletion and can alter the atmosphere's ability to absorb heat, thus affecting Earth's climate. Satellite reentries also produce nitrogen oxides, which, too, are known to damage ozone" The original Space Shuttle environmental impact statement from 1978 estimated roughly the same number for STS launches: a "stratospheric deposition rate" of 6618 metric tons per year of aluminum oxide. That EIS assumed a shuttle launch rate of 60 per year, which ended up being fanciful. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19810008106/downloads/19810008106.pdf https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19810008106/downloads/19... (pdf) ("4.2.2.2 Chemical Emissions into the Stratosphere", page 107) (That one was the aluminum fuel in solid rocket boosters).