Elon Musk's Starlink 衛星s could be eroding Earth's 磁石の field and slowly 毒（薬）ing us all, ex-航空宇宙局 scientist 警告するs

• e-mail

An ex-航空宇宙局 physicist 警告するs?cheap 衛星 'megaconstellations' like Elon Musk's Starlink could 混乱に陥れる／中断させる Earth's magnetosphere exposing all life to deadly 宇宙線.

Dr. Sierra Solter-追跡（する）'s new 熟考する／考慮する draws on new 見積（る）s that Musk's?SpaceX?is 燃やすing up?over 2,755 lbs (1.3 トンs) of wireless internet 衛星 破片 into Earth's atmosphere every hour?― creating a metal 層 of 'conductive particulate' in 軌道.

'I was very surprised,' physicist Dr Solter-追跡（する） told DailyMail.com. 'No one has given much 研究 to the accumulation of metal dust from the space 産業.'

There are 5,504 Starlink 衛星s now in 軌道, as of the last 見積（る） by 天文学者s this March, of which 5,442 are 操作の. But tens of thousands more are planned.

An ex-航空宇宙局 physicist 警告するs cheap 衛星 'megaconstellations' like Elon Musk 's Starlink could 混乱に陥れる／中断させる Earth's magnetosphere exposing all life to deadly 宇宙線

Her new 熟考する／考慮する draws on 見積（る）s that Musk's SpaceX is 現在／一般に 燃やすing up over 2,755 lbs (1.3 トンs) of internet 衛星 破片 in Earth's atmosphere every hour, creating a metal 層 of 'conductive particulate' in 軌道. There are now 5,504 Starlink 衛星s above Earth (pictured)

粒子s from these 衛星s at the end of their lifecycle could 'distort or 罠（にかける） the 磁石の field' that keeps Earth's atmosphere from escaping, the physicist said, 'with all of the 高度に-conductive metal trash that is all settling in one 地域.'

Although she 公式文書，認めるs it is an 'extreme 事例／患者,' such a 層 of 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d metal dust could lead to?'atmospheric stripping' akin to the 古代の 運命／宿命s of 火星 and 水銀柱，温度計.

After working on 航空宇宙局's 惑星-catching Stardust 宇宙船 研究 team in 2012,?Dr Solter-追跡（する）?spent three years at the US 空気／公表する 軍隊 研究 研究室／実験室.

There she 熟考する／考慮するd the electromagnetic 行為 of plasma plume s in low-Earth 軌道 (LEO), the 地域 of the upper-atmosphere where Starlink's 軌道の 網状組織 resides. She now 協議するs on space 天候's 衝撃 on the 航空宇宙学 産業.?

Seattle-based scientist Sierra Solter-追跡（する） (pictured) believes floating, metallic space junk will likely settle in the upper part of the ionosphere - some 50 to 400 miles above the Earth's surface - 弱めるing its 磁石の field

'We are at about 10,000 衛星s [in 軌道] 権利 now, but in 10 to 15 years there are likely going to be 100,000,' Dr.?Solter-追跡（する） told DailyMail.com.

'By the time we get to 100,000 I think it could be too late,' she said, 'ーに関して／ーの点でs of this unplanned geoengineering 実験 that is going to occur.'

The caus e for her 関心 is that 広大な this 罰金-粒子 metal 破片 already vastly outweighs the 負わせる of the magnetically 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d 粒子s that 保護する Earth from cosmic 放射（能）.?

The heaviest known 部分 of Earth's magnetosphere are the large 宙返り飛行s of?罠にかける 粒子s called the?先頭 Allen Belts ― two donut-形態／調整d 地域s of small 粒子s energized by cosmic 放射（能） from the sun.?

The belts 宙返り飛行 from Earth's magnetically 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金d North and South 政治家s.?

The 負わせる of this 決定的な 地域 is impossibly small compared to the metal 破片 that could 削減（する） it off from Earth ―? the?先頭 Allen Belts?only have a total 集まり of 0.0004 lbs (or about 0.00018 キログラムs).

'The 集まりs of other parts of the magnetosphere (（犯罪の）一味 現在の, plasmasphere, etc.),' as she 公式文書，認めるs in her new paper, 地位，任命するd to Cornell's arXiv, 'are not 広範囲にわたって 概算の but are いっそう少なく dense than the 先頭 Allen Belts.'

This light 負わせる and low 集まり of the magnetosphere, in other words, means that a high 容積／容量 of 激しい 衛星 破片 could have a 劇の, 前例のない 衝撃.

'I think we need to stop using the ionosphere and atmosphere as a space 産業 trash 貯蔵所 すぐに,' she told DailyMail.com?

In 最近の years, both academic 天文学者s and SpaceX's 衛星 company competitors to SpaceX?have 問題／発行するd?years of formal （民事の）告訴s?to the US?連邦の Communications （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限 (FCC) over SpaceX's Starlink ambitions.

天文学者s in particular worry the company's space junk could 永久的に 干渉する with ground-based 観測所s, grinding the 熟考する／考慮する of space to a 停止（させる）.?

Dr.?Solter-追跡（する）'s paper, 現在／一般に in peer-review, follows years of formal （民事の）告訴s to the US 連邦の Communications （売買）手数料，委託（する）／委員会／権限 (FCC) made by academic 天文学者s and SpaceX's 衛星 競争相手s who have 抗議するd Starlink's 衝撃 on the basic 熟考する／考慮する of space

'The 新規加入 of nearly 30,000 Starlink 衛星s will 混乱に陥れる／中断させる the entire field of 天文学の 研究,' as the FCC 要約するd academic 研究員s （民事の）告訴s in their November 29, 2022 判決，裁定 on SpaceX's Gen2 衛星 計画（する）s

'The 新規加入 of nearly 30,000 Starlink 衛星s will 混乱に陥れる／中断させる the entire field of 天文学の 研究,' as the FCC 要約するd academic 研究員s （民事の）告訴s in their November 29, 2022 判決，裁定?on?SpaceX's Gen2 衛星 計画（する）s.

多重の scientists 重さを計るd in 令状ing letters to the 機関 to 発言する／表明する their 関心s, 含むing Canadian 天文学者 and planetary science professor Dr. Samantha Lawler and Dr. Meredith Rawls, a 研究員 in the Vera C. Rubin 観測所.??

'When I heard Dr. Lawler [...] speak about how no one knew what could happen when 衛星 re-入ること／参加（者）s start to create 破片 定期的に,' Dr. Solter-追跡（する） told DailyMail.com, 'I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to look into it その上の as a part of my PhD in plasma physics.'

However, some astrophysicists and planetary scientists have 発言する／表明するd 懐疑心 over the new paper's hypothetical worst 事例／患者 シナリオ.?

One critic of the paper, 研究員 Fionagh Thompson from Durham University in the UK, said that Dr. Solter-追跡（する）'s 見積（る）s for the number of 未来 衛星s 'seems 誇張するd,' as companies' ambitious 開始する，打ち上げる 計画（する）s tend to be overhyped. Above, SpaceX owner Elon Musk

From Durham University in the UK, 研究員 Fionagh Thompson told Live Science?that Dr. Solter-追跡（する）'s 見積（る）s for the number of 未来 衛星s 'seems 誇張するd,' as companies' ambitious 開始する，打ち上げる schedules tend to be overhyped.

The paper is an '利益／興味ing thought 実験,' she 公式文書，認めるd, but 追加するd that 'it shouldn't be passed off as "this i s what is going to happen,"' definitively.

One magnetosphere 専門家 and planetary scientist at the University of Rochester in New York, Dr. John Tarduno, 非難するd 特に the new paper's hypothesis that the 濃度／密度 of metallic 破片 might get so 厚い that it 削減（する）s off Earth from its 先頭 Allen Belts like a 磁石の 保護物，者.?

READ MORE:?Terrifying interactive 地図／計画する 明らかにする／漏らすs the space junk 軌道ing Earth

From spent ロケット／急騰するs to dead 衛星s, the sheer 容積／容量 of space junk is 抱擁する. A 地図／計画する by California-based 衛星 監視するing and 衝突／不一致 （犯罪，病気などの）発見 会社／堅い LeoLabs 明らかにする／漏らすs the 規模 of the problem.?

宣伝

'Even at the 濃度／密度s [of 宇宙船 dust] discussed, a continuous conductive 爆撃する like a true 磁石の 保護物，者 is ありそうもない,' Dr. Tarduno said.

Some of the 熟考する／考慮する's 仮定／引き受けることs, he said, were likely 'too simple and ありそうもない to be 訂正する.'

But Dr. Solter-追跡（する） told DailyMail.com that 非，不，無 of her critics have been able to poke 穴を開けるs in her basic 前提, even when she has 本人自身で requested deeper 建設的な 批評.

'I've reached out to [some of] them for その上の elaboration on how I could 改善する the 研究 and they 簡単に didn't know how I could 改善する my 熟考する／考慮する on electrostatic 署名s,' she said. 'Or they were unreachable.'?

'So I do not consider there to be any real 科学の critics at this time,' she 結論するd, 'and the paper is in the peer-review 過程.'

Dr. Lawler, the 天文学者 at the University of Regina in Canada who 奮起させるd her 調査s, called the new 熟考する／考慮する?'a really important first step' that draw needed attention to the 'terrifying' 量 of 宇宙船 dust building up in Earth's atmosphere.

'The consequences [of this 衛星 汚染],' Dr. Lawler said, 'could also be on a 全く different 規模 than we're used to thinking about.'?

DailyMail.com has reached out to SpaceX's public relations team for comment, and will update this article if the company 答える／応じるs.