Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nifty idea. But don’t satellites have toxic components? While most of it will be burnt up some bits get to the ground. Satellites are made from material, and can’t be safely disassembled. Rentry is uncontrolled incineration, depending on a large part of the pollutants being diluted across the sky, and the ground and water on which they fall. Background levels would rise.
> But don’t satellites have toxic components? That depends on how you define "toxic". If you mean toxic fuels, most do not. However the idea is just terribly impracticable. Heat shields are heavy and more than that you would need to design your satellite around the heat shield. It would need to be able to fold up like origami into the heat shield. You also need to add extra fuel to perform the targed re-entry. This w…
Hydrazine is quite common and quite toxic, of the "seek medical attention immediately" variety. 1 ppm is a threshold for exposure for a few hours, satellites can launch with hundreds of pounds of the stuff.
A crashed satellite would not be safe to be around, you might get liver failure if you go poking around one and get a good ammonia-like whiff of hydrazine.