‘Megaconstellations’ of satellites could endanger ozone hole recovery

The 1987 Montreal Protocol successfully regulated ozone-damaging chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) to protect the ozone layer, shrinking the ozone hole over Antarctica with recovery then expected in the next fifty years.

However, new research from the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering has shown that these oxides have increased eight-fold between 2016 and 2022 and will continue to accumulate as the number of low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites increase, jeopardising the ozone layer in decades to come.

The researchers outlined that, of the 8,100 objects in LEO, 6,000 are Starlink satellites launched in the last few years, and that the demand for global internet coverage is driving a rapid ramp up of launches of small communication satellite swarms.

SpaceX is the front runner in this enterprise, with permission to launch another 12,000 Starlink satellites and as many as 42,000 planned. Amazon and other companies around the globe are also planning constellations ranging from 3,000 to 13,000 satellites, the authors of the study added.