Survey of the estimated mass of ablated material and intact debris from 'end-of-life' LEO spacecraft entering the atmosphere

De-orbiting via re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere is the modus operandi of end-of-life LEO satellite disposal despite the uncertainties regarding the impact of ablated materials and intact debris. Elements that have never existed naturally within our atmosphere, such as hafnium and niobium, which originate solely from ablated satellites and rocket bodies, have already been detected in the stratosphere. This ablated material will only increase as early- and next-generation LEO constellations reach the disposal phase of their lifecycle. Starlink alone has requested to add a further 30,000 satellites to their existing mega-constellation, with others following suit. Of particular interest are the re-entry mass and fluxes of very high melting point de-orbiting materials that are unlikely to ablate, such as the laser medium used in inter-satellite optical communication links. We present the results of a preliminary study into the projected mass and geographic fluxes of ablated material and intact objects into the upper atmosphere.