One of the common metals in satellite construction, aluminum, can end up as aluminum‑containing particles in the stratosphere, where aluminum oxide on those particles provides surfaces for ozone‑destroying chemistry.
Burning satellites in the stratosphere: Emerging questions for climate - The Salata InstituteSince the start of the space age, humans have treated the upper atmosphere like a dump. What we know, and what we don’t, about incinerated space trash.salatainstitute.harvard.edu