Environmental Review for Low-Earth-Orbit Satellites

This is a news story, published by Wired, that relates primarily to FCC news.

space technology news

For more space technology news, you can click here:

more space technology news

Wired news

For more news from Wired, you can click here:

more news from Wired

About the Otherweb

Otherweb, Inc is a public benefit corporation, dedicated to improving the quality of news people consume. We are non-partisan, junk-free, and ad-free. We use artificial intelligence (AI) to remove junk from your news feed, and allow you to select the best science news, business news, entertainment news, and much more. If you like space technology news, you might also like this article about

commercial satellites

. We are dedicated to bringing you the highest-quality news, junk-free and ad-free, about your favorite topics. Please come every day to read the latest new commercial internet satellites news, Environmental Harms news, space technology news, and other high-quality news about any topic that interests you. We are working hard to create the best news aggregator on the web, and to put you in control of your news feed - whether you choose to read the latest news through our website, our news app, or our daily newsletter - all free!

commercial internet satellites

Wired

•

As Skies Fill With Space Junk, Nonprofit Urges US to Pause StarLink Launches

Summary

Nutrition label

77% Informative

A new report calls for a renewed push to review the environmental effects of low- Earth -orbit satellites.

In the past five years , the number of satellites in the sky has increased almost 127 times over.

Right now, there’s very little regulation governing how most of these satellites are launched, or what happens to the internal components when the satellites die, fall earthward.

Satellites that have to be decommissioned can be burned up by tipping them into the atmosphere, where the friction of reentry causes them to combust.

The vaporization of various metals and plastics in the upper atmosphere can affect life on the surface in unknown ways.

The FCC has repeatedly determined that internet satellite companies are “categorically exempt” from environmental review.

VR Score

Informative language

Neutral language

Article tone

informal

Language

English

Language complexity

Offensive language