Space junk: Researcher says rocket launches are littering the air, is concerned about ozone layer

A record-breaking number of launches have happened on the Space Coast this year. That number is only expected to keep growing, as is the pollution the launches leave behind. Dr. Daniel Murphy with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said, “When the rockets burn up you get vaporized aluminum, you get vaporized copper, other metals, and that burn-up is happening at 40 to 80 kilometers, so well above 100,000 feet.” But, he said the vaporized metals don’t stay put. “We were finding products from the burnup of rockets, that happens much higher in the atmosphere down in the stratosphere at about 60,000 feet. So finding what’s left over of the burn-up at much lower altitudes than people expected I think,” Murphy explained. He said the research is new. “We made measurements on a NASA airplane from Fairbanks, AK last February and it was looking at the data from those flights that we really started recognizing these metals,” Murphy said. It’s not clear what it all means and Murphy said more research is needed. “We don’t think there is going to be impacts at ground level to people’s health and things, but what we are concerned about is that the stratosphere is the altitude where the ozone layer is and we don’t know for sure right now that there are any bad impacts from these metals, but it’s also a new thing to have found and we don’t know what the impacts are and I think there is always concern if you put some new material in at the same altitude as the ozone layer,” he said. According to Murphy, one of the next steps is studying the tropics, where he said scientists may discover particles from rocket launches are actually floating upward from the ground level into the atmosphere. To hear more about the space junk found in the air and how space companies are reacting, check out Talk to Tom. You can download the podcast from wherever you listen to podcasts or watch anytime on News 6+.