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Chelsea, the last couple of weeks, I have been, I don't know,

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overly happy, I guess they've been happy.

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Like your joy. I was going to say, you've been uncomfortably optimistic.

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Yeah. Well, don't worry.

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The uncomfort level can go back to a normal level.

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There always should be some uncomfort, but just like I don't.

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I don't want people to not listen because of how uncomfortable they are

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with the happiness factor.

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I've been on edge with anticipation.

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Good. Good.

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We focused on garbage and recycling and whatnot and pollution.

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And we know we've polluted the sea.

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We know we've polluted the land.

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We know we've polluted the air.

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And we know we've even polluted the orbit of Earth with satellites.

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But surely that space in between all that stuff I just described

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hasn't been polluted, right?

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Clean, very clean.

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Well, we've kept that space clean.

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Yeah, because we don't know what we would do there.

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So why even put stuff there?

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Well, this article comes from Live Science.

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Live Science, I don't actually know which way to pronounce it.

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That's the problem with English and just, you know, the exclusive written form.

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Yeah. So this article is on Live Science.

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It's by Harry Baker, written on where is the date on this?

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All I know is it was written.

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I can't confirm that.

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Anyhow, article title.

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Oh, sorry, October 24th, 2022.

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There we go.

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Article name falling metal space junk is changing Earth's upper atmosphere

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in ways we don't fully understand.

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A research plane that flew through Earth's stratosphere identified more than 20

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elements that are linked to the aerospace industry.

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Experts predict that the problem could become much worse in the future.

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So let's go through this.

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The sky is littered with metal pollution from bits of space junk.

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The burn up is a reenter the atmosphere.

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A new study reveals this unexpected level of contamination,

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which will likely rise sharply in the coming decades,

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could change our planet's atmosphere in ways we don't fully understand.

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Researchers warn the study published on October 16th in the journal, PNAS.

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That's the paper.

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So it's PNAS. I laugh every time I see it, too.

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It's the, I believe, paper for natural and astronomical sciences,

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but they could have picked a better name.

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PNAS.

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You could have.

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Is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,

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NOAA, Stratospheric Aerosol Processes, Budget and Radiative Effects,

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which is Sabre Mission, which monitors the levels of aerosol,

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tiny particles suspended in the air within the atmosphere.

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Wow, that was a lot of long words to kind of,

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I'm not really sure what they're going over there,

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but it's about the paper.

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We have the information.

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Yeah.

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The team used a research plane,

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which was fitted with a specialized funnel on its nose

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that captures and analyzes aerosol to sample the stratosphere.

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The atmosphere's second layer that spans between 7.5 and 31 miles

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above the planet's surface, or 12 and 50 kilometers.

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The study was designed to detect aerosols covered with, quote,

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meteor dust, and, quote, left behind by space rocks

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that burned up upon entry.

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Instead, the plane detected high levels of metallic elements

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contaminating the floating molecules,

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none of which could be explained by meteors

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and other natural processes.

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The two most surprising elements were neobium and hafnium,

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which are both rare earth metals used to make technological components,

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such as batteries.

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The researchers were puzzled by the high levels of aluminum,

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copper, and lithium.

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The team had not expected to find these elements in the stratosphere

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and were initially confused as to where they had come from.

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Study lead author Daniel Murphy, an atmospheric chemist at NOAA's

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Chemical Science Lab in Boulder, Colorado,

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said in a statement that, quote,

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but the combination of aluminum and copper plus neobium and hafnium,

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which are used in heat-resistance high-performance alloys,

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pointed us to the aerospace industry, end quote.

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This discovery represents the first time that stratospheric pollution

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has been unquestionably linked to reentry of space debris,

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where the researchers noted.

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And in total, the study identified 20 different metallic elements

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that do not naturally occur in Earth's atmosphere,

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including silver, iron, lead, magnesium, titanium,

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beryllium, chromium, nickel, and zinc.

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The team suspects that the main source of the pollution

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is rocket boosters that are rejected by rockets shortly

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after they clear the upper atmosphere

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and then fall back down to Earth.

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China, which was previously criticized

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for a series of uncontrolled reentries,

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is responsible for many of these rocket booster reentries.

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However, this problem has also plagued Russia and NASA.

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I really liked that they didn't name the U.S. out of all those.

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Yeah, I find the building on all of that pretty funny.

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Falling satellites that have been abandoned,

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knocked out of orbit by solar storms or purposely,

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crashed back to Earth,

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are also likely to release large amount of metal pollution

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as they burn up.

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Pollution from satellites will likely increase

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as more commercial satellites are launched into space.

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Now, a particular concern is the nearly 9,000 satellites

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that are currently in low Earth orbit,

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which are destined to eventually fall back to Earth

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according to Orbiting Now.

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In total, around 10% of aerosols from the new study

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were polluted with space metal junk.

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But the researchers predict that this could jump

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to around 50% in the next few decades.

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It is currently too early to tell

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what long-term effects this pollution will have on our planet,

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but past atmospheric pollution,

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such as chlorofluorocarbon CFCs,

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contributed to holes in the ozone layer.

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Aerosols also play a role in reflecting sunlight back into space,

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which is important for mitigating the effects of climate change.

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A lot of work will be needed

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to understand the implications of these metals

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in the atmosphere, Murphy said.

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And that's where the article ends.

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So, as of right now,

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it's technically not a bad news,

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because we don't know what kind of news.

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I don't think, though,

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this falls into the category of

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can't choose or undecided, do you?

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Undecided, yeah.

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Can't choose between good or bad news.

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I feel like I would file it into bad news.

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I think it is bad news.

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It just gets thrown into the mix

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of all the other things that were ruining.

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So, how are we even going to tell

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that it's making things worse

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than what we're already doing to the planet?

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And I didn't like how

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they threw that last little bit at the end.

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Like, oh, by the way,

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it might reflect stuff back.

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So we're not warming as fast.

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But I'm confident

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to say what we're doing is probably bad.

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Yeah, definitely bad.

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And I feel like the wording on a lot of that stuff

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is questionable.

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Though, I can't agree with the message

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if I understood it correctly.

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I'm not sure if I did.

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But what I get is we're not sure

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that these things are bad,

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but they probably are.

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I've decided that for myself.

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Yeah, and we are the deciders

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at the end of the day.

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Yeah, we definitely are.

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And you can rest easy,

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knowing that this decision

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has been made for you

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over these next 48 hours.

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One thing off your plate.

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And until Friday,

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when we can make further decisions for you

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in the longer form.

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Yeah.

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Anyhow, see you Friday.

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Have a good day.