<story><title>UN Bans Mercury Satellite Propellants Under New Minamata Treaty Provisions</title><url>https://peer.org/un-bans-mercury-satellite-propellants-under-new-minamata-treaty-provisions/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jmpman</author><text>How much Mercury does satellite propellant contribute to global airborne mercury, compared to coal fired power plant emissions? My first thought is that this is about 7 orders of magnitude less, and thus a ridiculous thing for these technocrats to focus on… but I’m happy to be educated. Or is there some other concern about mercury in satellite propellant?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>windsurfer</author><text>With the satellite megaconstellations being launched it seems important to ban it before it becomes common. Mercury-based fuels are cheaper than alternatives.&lt;p&gt;Coal as being burned for electricity has an industry standard of scrubbing 90% of mercury emissions, but is moving towards 99% using newer technologies.</text></comment>
<story><title>UN Bans Mercury Satellite Propellants Under New Minamata Treaty Provisions</title><url>https://peer.org/un-bans-mercury-satellite-propellants-under-new-minamata-treaty-provisions/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jmpman</author><text>How much Mercury does satellite propellant contribute to global airborne mercury, compared to coal fired power plant emissions? My first thought is that this is about 7 orders of magnitude less, and thus a ridiculous thing for these technocrats to focus on… but I’m happy to be educated. Or is there some other concern about mercury in satellite propellant?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>ars</author><text>The article claims &amp;quot;one proposed communications network using the technology could result in hundreds of metric tons of additional mercury&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;And searching for mercury released by coal burning comes up with 50 tons in the US, and around 250 tons&amp;#x2F;year worldwide from all sources.&lt;p&gt;I have a hard time believing that figure for the satellite, but if true, it&amp;#x27;s actually significant.&lt;p&gt;Edit: Seems like an ion engine uses around 1 ton of propellant. So, yah, I guess banning mercury for this, really is significant.</text></comment>