Photo: Marco Bertorello/AFP (Getty Images)
In the pantheon of climate change concerns, more space junk isn’t high on my list. But apparently it should be.
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Two striking recent findings show that excess carbon dioxide is messing with the composition of the atmosphere dozens to hundreds of miles above Earth’s surface. The shifts taking place could turn low Earth orbit into a landfill (or skyfill, I guess?) and impact the functionality of GPS and other technology vital to modern life.
Most climate change happenings that preoccupy us take place here on the surface of Earth as well as in the lowest level of the atmosphere, known as the troposphere. But recent research presented at the European Conference on Space Debris sheds light on the less-explored upper edges of the atmosphere. Their startling conclusions show that the atmosphere is essentially experiencing shrinkage and becoming less dense, and that’s increasing the risk of more space junk piling up.