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bladeelover429 t1_j9t16nf wrote

Also, another thing that can be done to get an idea of how problematic the materials the satellite is made of might be depends on this pretty convenient chart of common spacecraft metals and their thermal conductivity: https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/thermal-conductivity-metals-d_858.html

If an object starts in space and you assume it's at an ambient temp of 2.7K, you can test different values of the distance travelled through the atmosphere, m. Then you have the amount of energy absorbed per degree, so factor in the energy absorption rate of the metal, and you have how long it takes for it to aerosolize. In this case, if the particles added by the object do end up being problematic to the climate, we would want to make sure that they're being aerosolized as close to the surface of the earth as possible.

So best case scenario, it exits the atmosphere before the amount of light being blocked can do any harm. (Ref. https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/news/the-dirt-atmospheric-dust)

Worst case scenario, it subtracts a few years from the time left we have to solve this problem before getting sent into an ice age.

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