– Elon Musk’s SpaceX is launching thousands of satellites to create its Starlink broadband internet constellation in low-Earth orbit.
– Scientists are concerned this could negatively impact radio astronomy observations from both ground-based and space-based radio telescopes.
– The satellites are very bright as they need to be visible to users on Earth. Their reflective surfaces could overload the sensitive detectors of radio telescopes as they pass through their field of view.
– Observations could be “completely disrupted” for minutes at a time as each satellite passes by. This could obscure signals from cosmic sources that radio astronomers are trying to study.
– It’s a bigger problem than previous satellite mega-constellations as Starlink will have many more satellites. SpaceX is approved for 12,000 but could ultimately deploy over 40,000.
– Solutions proposed include working with SpaceX to make the satellites less reflective or devise strategies to avoid problematic passes, but some impact may be unavoidable given the large number of satellites.
– Critics argue the concerns raised by astronomers were not properly addressed in the regulatory approval process for Starlink.
Source: Science
