What does this have to do with the pollution being referred to in the article:
> All the satellites which re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere burn and create tiny alumina particles, which will float in the upper atmosphere for many years,” Takao Doi, a Japanese astronaut and aerospace engineer with Kyoto University, warned recently. “Eventually, it will affect the environment of the Earth.”
Shards or no shards, if a satellite weighs 1,000 kg then that's a maximum of 1,000 kg of aluminum particles that can burn up in the atmosphere - regardless how they do it.
> All the satellites which re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere burn and create tiny alumina particles, which will float in the upper atmosphere for many years,” Takao Doi, a Japanese astronaut and aerospace engineer with Kyoto University, warned recently. “Eventually, it will affect the environment of the Earth.”
Shards or no shards, if a satellite weighs 1,000 kg then that's a maximum of 1,000 kg of aluminum particles that can burn up in the atmosphere - regardless how they do it.