Experts have warned that tech billionaire Elon Musk, who is the biggest propagator of colonisation of Mars, might be threatening life on already human-inhabited Earth.
Astrophysicist Jonathon McDowell, who worked at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics for 37 years, has warned that Starlink satellites deorbiting and falling every day might prove hazardous to the stratosphere.
For context, the stratosphere is the second-lowest layer of the atmosphere of Earth, located above the troposphere and below the mesosphere. It contains the ozone layer, which absorbs harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun.
McDowell said that if the satellites damaged the ozone layer, it could result in harmful ultraviolet radiations reaching the Earth, posing risk to humans. UV radiation can cause skin cancer, cataracts and eye damage to humans.
It has been revealed that nearly 25,000 pieces of orbital debris is circling the Earth consisting of defunct satellites and dead rocket stages. Starlink has more than 8000 satellites in space with more being sent frequently.
Previously, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) also warned that Musk’s satellites have the potential to seriously injure or kill someone by 2035.
The FAA has warned that over 28,000 space junk pieces can survive the reentry into the Earth atmosphere posing risk to the inhabitants.
However, previously Musk dismissed the report stating that SpaceX satellites are designed to demise during reentry. However, in a statement in February 2025, he backtracked, stating: “Not all satellites fully disintegrate upon reentry.”
McDowell has also warned that continuously falling space junk can result in Kessler syndrome which is basically a hypothetical scenario in which low-orbiting objects collide resulting in chain reaction, leading to large amounts of debris falling on Earth.
Despite the stark warning, tech companies are committed to send more satellites into space with Jeff Bezos’s Amazon planning to launch 3,236 satellites into space by the end of this year.
