Scientist issues serious warning over Elon Musk's billion-dollar company that could threaten life on Earth

A scientist has issued a serious warning regarding one of Elon Musk's companies - and it could have a huge impact for us on Earth.

Tech billionaire Musk - who owns the likes of Tesla, X and Neuralink - set up one of his most lucrative companies back in 2002, but scientists have concerns over how it could be impacting the environment.

An astrophysicist has warned that Musk's company could set off a chain reaction with devastating consequences - potentially having a dire impact on our communications systems.

Starlink, which is SpaceX's public satellite internet network, has been launching satellites since 2019.

However, concern is beginning to arise over the rate at which the satellites are falling back down to Earth.

According to astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, there are reportedly one to two Starlink satellites falling back to Earth each day and it could be a problem for our environment.

At present, there are 8,000 Starlink satellites in Earth's orbit, with the number set to increase.

Scientists have issued a warning about one of Elon Musk's companies (Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

According to McDowell, who spoke to EarthSky, there will be up to five satellites re-entering Earth's atmosphere every day.

He said: "With all constellations deployed, we expect about 30,000 low-Earth orbit satellites (Starlink, Amazon Kuiper, others) and perhaps another 20,000 satellites at 1,000 km [620 miles] from the Chinese systems.

"For the low-orbit satellites we expect a 5-year replacement cycle, and that translates to five reentries a day. It’s not clear if the Chinese will orbit-lower theirs or just accelerate us to chain-reaction Kessler syndrome."

There are thousands of satellites in orbit (Getty Stock Photo)

How do satellites impact Earth?

It's now believed that the satellites could be having dangerous consequences for the environment.

Back in 2023, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shared research on the Earth's stratosphere, explaining that it 'contains an unexpected quantity of particles with a variety of exotic metals. The scientists believe the particles come from satellites and spent rocket boosters as they are vaporized by the intense heat of reentry'.

In the study, elements including niobium, hafnium, as well as copper, lithium and aluminum were discovered.

EarthSky explain that the particles can absorb and reflect the sun's rays, as well as aiding in chemical reactions which can destroy the ozone layer and damage the planet's atmosphere.

Satellites and rocket boosters could affect the ozone layer (ALLISON ROBBERT/AFP via Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Daniel Murphy, of the NOAA's Chemical Sciences Laboratory told Science: "Almost no one is thinking about the environmental impact on the stratosphere.

“It would be better to understand it now than when there’s much more.”

In 2023, a report from The Federal Aviation Administration warned Musk that the satellites could seriously injure or kill someone by 2035.

They predicted around 28,000 dangerous fragments could survive re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, but Musk called the report 'preposterous, unjustified and inaccurate'.

"To be clear, SpaceX's satellites are designed and built to fully demise during atmospheric reentry during disposal at the end of life, and they do so," a letter read.

The satellites could be damaging Earth's atmosphere (Getty Stock Photo)

What is the Kessler syndrome?

McDowell has even warned that due to the potentially high number of re-entries, Earth may suffer from Kessler syndrome, which could make accessing space particularly risky and expensive.

Space Centre explain: "The Kessler syndrome was first proposed in 1978 by NASA scientist Donald J. Kessler. This was shortly after the Space Race and the number of satellites being sent into low Earth orbit (LEO) was accelerating rapidly.

"Kessler proposed a theoretical scenario where the number of objects in LEO would become so vast that it would cause a chain of events that could eventually stop us leaving Earth.

"Kessler’s theory is that if we keep launching into space without a plan of bringing things back down, it would cause LEO to reach a critical mass where collisions between objects would inevitably begin to happen."

Astrodynamicist and MIT professor Richard Linares told Aerospace America this scenario could mean in the future 'humans probably don’t have any incentive to launch satellites, because we’re losing 50% of them' to collisions with space debris, which would obviously have a huge impact on satellite communications.

UNILAD has reached out to Musk for comment.

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