Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Space debris plunges to Earth, burning its way through the atmosphere.
Image credit: The Aerospace Corporation

New research points to increasing pollution in the upper stratosphere due to reentering satellites, rocket bodies, and other incoming high-tech riff raff.

Air Force reservists load recovered rocket parts in a 2011 trip to Mongolia. The debris was identified as expended hardware from an Air Force booster that circled Earth for nearly a decade.
Image credit: Master Sgt. Linda Welz/U.S. Air Force

That troublesome trend is leading researchers to come up with proposals – one of those that use fabrication ideas to lessen space debris that make it to Earth.

The Aerospace Corporation has established a Space Safety Institute (SSI). As one of five focus areas, SSI is working on launch and reentry safety and “Design for Demise” is an item they’ve paid attention to.

Launch and reentry particle emissions in the Earth’s stratosphere.
Image credit: The Aerospace Corporation

For more information, go to my new Space.com story – “Space junk threat: Researchers working to reduce impact of falling debris – Building smarter could help a lot” – at:

https://www.space.com/space-junk-threat-research-reduce-impact