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Space junk: the impact of global warming on satellites | The Excerpt

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Space junk: the impact of global warming on satellites | The Excerpt

On a special episode (first released on April 3, 2025) of The Excerpt podcast: What happens when today’s treasure – satellites that give us access to broadband internet and accurate weather forecasts among other things – become tomorrow’s trash? Or, in other words, where does all that space junk go? And what does climate change have to do with it? Last month, a team of aerospace engineers at MIT released their findings from a research study on the effects of climate change on satellites in the Earth’s upper atmosphere. Will Parker, PhD candidate in Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT, and lead author of the study, joins The Excerpt to discuss how global warming affects satellites.