SpaceX plans to deploy a constellation of about one million AI‑focused satellites in low‑Earth orbit, a scheme that would result in the loss of roughly 200,000 satellites each year, according to an FCC filing and analysis of proposed hardware. The proposal involves using satellites based on Nvidia A100 GPU racks, which have an expected operational life of five years. The plan would cause substantial material loss as satellites are either deorbited to burn up or moved to a disposal orbit. The FCC filing indicates about 40,000 satellites would reenter the atmosphere annually, while the remainder would be placed in a distant disposal orbit. Assuming each satellite contains 72 A100 GPUs, the annual export of materials would include approximately 1,000 tons of copper, 170 kilograms of gold, almost 2 tons of silver, more than 20 tons each of bismuth and titanium, over 2 tons of palladium and 76 kilograms of thallium. These figures represent about one percent of global annual palladium and thallium production. The article notes that aluminum and titanium from the satellites could be sourced from the Moon, as suggested in an SEC filing, but launching a lunar manufacturing base would add significant cost and complexity. Environmental concerns include potential ozone depletion from aluminum vaporization and the difficulty of recycling materials that are dispersed globally after reentry. The analysis also compares the mass of material lost to the size of asteroids needed to recover equivalent amounts, indicating that retrieving the copper, silver and tin would require asteroids 140–300 meters in diameter, while platinum and cobalt could be sourced from much smaller bodies. The piece raises questions about whether future space projects will undergo environmental reviews that assess the mass of materials removed from the Earth system, and whether existing legal frameworks for space mineral extraction address these concerns.