Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Mars colony plan: Mankind’s victory in space may cost future generations dear — know why

Humanity's drive to conquer space is undeniable. Recently, Elon Musk's SpaceX Starship exploded 10 minutes into the latest flight test. The ‘failure’, however, did not sway him from his project to ‘colonise’ Mars — a plan that has been widely talked about ever since US President Donald Trump's DOGE major-domo announced it in September 2024.

But at what cost? Are human beings pushing the boundaries of what's possible?

Amid the already rising levels of pollution that plague regions across the world, scientists have now found out another pollutant — space debris — that threatens Earth's Stratosphere, the atmospheric region that holds our planet’s fragile, protective ozone layer.

LiveMint takes a deep dive into why this is a cause of concern.

Satellites ‘choking’ up space — what is happening?

In January 2025, over 100 communication satellites burned up in Earth’s atmosphere, vapourising as they crashed towards the planet at a speed of eight km per second, reported The Economist.

When satellites burn up, they release particles of metals like aluminium, copper, lithium, and niobium into the stratosphere. This layer is responsible for absorbing harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun, protecting life on Earth.

Why is it a concern?

Incidents of space debris clogging up the Earth's atmosphere have been very common. Moreover, the Blue Planet's atmosphere has also been bombarded by foreign bodies, such as meteoroids and cosmic dust, for billions of years. With around 11,000 satellites currently in Earth's orbit, space debris from satellites, however, has now become a concern.

Burning up of these satellites sends a ‘different set of metals’ into the atmosphere, John Plane from the University of Leeds told The Economist. For instance, aluminium particles could react with oxygen to form alumina, creating a surface for other chemical reactions. One such reaction could release chlorine, a substance that destroys ozone, which protects Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation.

A 2023 study by Scientific American (SCI AM) also revealed that the metals are accumulating within sulfuric acid particles, which constitute most of the stratosphere’s particulates and influence our world’s ozone layer and climate.

What is the way out?

Several experts have noted that making smaller satellites could reduce the threats posed by the increasing space debris. For instance, Starlink’s spacecraft weigh about 800 kilogrammes at launch, and Elon Musk predicted that future generations could be even heavier. But low-weight satellites could significantly reduce the harmful impacts of collision.

Making reusable rockets and maneuverable satellites could also help tackle the issue of increasing space junk, as per a journal by the Federation of American Scientists.