Trump Administration to stop research on space pollution, in Boon to Elon Musk | Trump Administration

The Trump administration is ready to kill the state research of environmental pollution by satellites and rockets, including some of the new questions of the conflicts of interest to the billionaire SpaceX and Starlink owner.

The pollution seems to be accumulated in the stratosphere at alarming levels. Some fear that it could destroy the ozone layer, some people may expose a higher level of ultraviolet radiation or contribute to further destabilizing the earth's climate during the climate crisis.

The two research projects would have had the potential to ultimately lead to new regulations, costs or logistical challenges for Musk companies and the commercial area industry.

They were part of the Office for Atmospheric Research at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which the Trump administration now suggests. The administration says that it “eliminates the support of the Federal Government for the Woke ideology”, but critics say that it protects a productive donor and a political ally.

“Obviously there is political motivation, and Elon Musk's business interests are connected in the work of NOAA,” said Tim Whitehouse, Executive Director of public employees for charitable organizations for environmental responsibility that has submitted an inquiry from the Freedom of Information Act for E-Mails around the projects.

Whitehouse added: “These are programs that the government wanted to build, had non -partisan support, and suddenly they are gutted without rhyme, reason or adequate explanation.”

The approximately 7,000 Starlink satellites offer broadband internet for largely grown customers who otherwise cannot access the service. It also offers communication services and internet access to governments and military. SpaceX is his parent company and develops a number of space missiles.

Since Musk, the “Department of Government Efficiency” or Doge has imposed the Federal Government on the beginning of the Trump administration, since it is supposed to look for opportunities to save money by cutting services and employees. Musks role – given to him by Trump – created controversy because he stood to benefit from some proposed cuts.

At the end of 2023, a study sponsored by the NOAA discovered that metals from space vehicles that evaporate while entering the atmosphere accumulate in the stratosphere. The follow-up-up stratospheric measurement flights planned for February continued this research. Regardless of this, a multi-room workshop with the private industry, in which the problem of the problem and take into account solutions, is also in the wood block block.

Both projects were delayed after the freezing in the administration before the section of the NOAA cuts in the administration, said former NOAA officials.

Noaa and Starlink did not answer immediately when asked for comments.

The majority of the pollution will now come from Starlink and Amazon's “Mega Constellations”, which form broadband internet from around 10,000 satellites. Up to 100,000 satellites are expected to be near the orbit within a decade, since a satellite race under the nations absorbs steam.

Spaceship can cause problems on the way up and down. Starts emit a number of emissions such as black carbon, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, aluminum oxide, chlorinated organism and once in orbit mercury. When the satellites are shut down five to 15 years later, they release metals while evaporating. This injects pollutants in previously flawless parts of the stratosphere, a highly sensitive system, and there is very little understanding of the consequences.

With the first steps towards sensible answers, Musk and Jeff Bezos from Musk and Amazon are initially considered for the health of the stratosphere.

The late 2023 NOAA-sponsored stratospheric measurement flight found metals in sulfuric acid aerosols, which make up a large part of the stratosphere, which is believed to play an oversized role in regulating the earth temperature. Some of the aerosols can act as a planetary “sunscreen” by creating high -ranking clouds, reflecting the solar radiation and at the same time keeping greenhouse gases and pollution from entering the ozone layer from below.

But how the metals of space vehicles, naturally occurring metals and sulfuric acid aerosols interact, “is largely unknown because we do not have the observations,” said Chris Maloney, a researcher at the University of Colorado who established the results of the stratospheric flights.

“We only take these little steps to understand this larger topic,” he added.

Aluminum is particularly important because it can affect the atmosphere and can cause warming. However, an increased aluminum may cause the stratosphere and the surface of the earth to cool down because it reflects the solar radiation. While this sounds like a positive development, there is also a great risk, said John Barentine, an astrophysicist and industry consultant who focuses on environmental issues.

“The climate is an incredibly complex system, and if you quickly disturb this system, you run the risk of a chaos,” he added.

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In separate 2022 papers, the problem of start emissions was highlighted. The pollutants emitted from rockets are almost 500 times more effective when heating the atmosphere as soot, which is released from sources such as aircraft. And if the starting rates increase as expected, their emissions can lead to stratospheric temperatures by 2 ° C (36f), which would affect the ozone over large parts of the northern hemisphere.

In a budget document in which the stratospheric measurement flight was described, the goal “to significantly advance our understanding of today's composition, chemistry and dynamics of the stratosphere and its effects on the climate system”. The previous flights checked the atmosphere in the northern hemisphere, and these, which were originally planned for January and February, should measure in the southern hemisphere.

The budget document also describes the multi -cycle “effects of spatial flight on the earth's climate of the earth, ozone and upper atmosphere”, in which the industry would have been included. It planned a workshop of 100,000 US dollars in the spring of 2025 entitled “The effects of the growing trade room industry on the earth's atmosphere: research challenges and opportunities”.

The former NOAA officials said that the new government quickly born the financing for both projects and that she benefited muscles.

“These programs are attacked because they came across strong commercial interests and commercial interests that want to destroy the programs for their personal gain,” said Whitehouse.

A private employee in space travel, who also worked with the efforts with state researchers, said that the main interests of the government meant the composition of the emissions of space vehicles. The composition and fuel of a spacecraft are proprietary information, so researchers need their formula to understand the pollution.

While the workshop could lead to new regulations for the commercial room industry, nobody, including space companies, knows the scale and potential problems.

“If you want to cover up something, you need to know the size and the scope of what needs to be covered up,” said the employee. “You could surprise the size and scope of the problem and you hate surprises.”

Sources say there are no direct groups that could fill the stratospheric measurement vacuum, even though the European space agency does some work on this front.

There is also no clear answer to how to produce spaceships that do not pollute, since every material that burns on releases emissions. Having fewer satellites is one of the best options, but it is unlikely that the industry would willingly agree.

“Whatever the smallest effect on the earth system is what we want to find out,” said Maloney.