SpaceX rocket left behind a plume of chemical pollution as it burnt up in the atmosphere

A 30-second exposure taken from Collm, Saxony, showing a Falcon 9 upper stage re-entering the atmosphere above Berlin, Germany, on 19 February 2025. Gerd Baumgarten

Space junk returning to the Earth is introducing metal pollution to the pristine upper atmosphere as it burns up on re-entry, a new study has found.

Published today in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, the study was led by Robin Wing from the Leibniz Institute of Atmospheric Physics in Germany. Using highly sensitive lasers, he and his team of international researchers observed a plume of lithium pollution, tracking it back to the uncontrolled re-entry of a discarded Space X Falcon 9 rocket upper stage.