Starlink
The satellites launched sofar are much
more visible than expected
paceXfounderandCEOElon
MuskannouncedtheStarlink
conceptbackinJanuary2015,
explaining the company intended
tolaunchabout 4,000 broadband satellites into
low-Earth orbit to provide low-cost internet to
people around the world.
The envisioned numbers have grown since
then. SpaceX now has permission from the US
Federal Communications Commission to loft
about 12,000 Starlink craft, and the company
has applied to an international radio-frequency
regulator for approval of up to 30,000
additional satellites. For perspective, there are
only about 2,000 operational satellites in orbit
today, and humanity has launched only around
9,000 craft into space in all of history.
Shortly after deployment, the Starlink
craft look like a bright string of pearls as they
race together across the sky. This formation
disbands as the 225-kilogram (500-pound)
satellites disperse and climb to their final
operational altitude about 550 kilometres (342
miles) above Earth’s surface – but the individual
spacecraft remain visible to the naked eye,
even way up there.“Whatsurprisedeveryonewashowbright
theirsatellitesare,”saidPatrickSeitzerof
theUniversityofMichigan.“Weknewthese
megaconstellations were coming, but based
on the sizes and shapes of things currently
in orbit, I thought maybe eighth or ninth
magnitude,” Seitzer added. “We were not
expecting second or third magnitude in the
parking orbits, and we were certainly not
expecting fourth to fifth magnitudes in the
[operational] orbits.” This surprising brightness
has many astronomers worried. The huge
number of coming Starlink satellites could
severely compromise the ability of ground-
based telescopes to do their work.
The high-profile project most likely to
be affected is the Vera Rubin Observatory,
scheduled to come online a few years from
now in the Chilean Andes. “The survey is
the most impacted by bright satellite trails
because of its wide field of view and extreme
sensitivity,” Seitzer said.
But Starlink’s effects will be felt beyond the
astronomical research community – indeed,
by pretty much everyone around the world.
The star-filled night sky is an international
resource, and one of the only ways that
many people commune with nature in our
increasingly urban and technological world,
said Ruskin Hartley, executive director of
the International Dark Sky Association. “The
night sky is the ultimate public good; it’s
our ultimate commons,” Hartley said during
a news conference. “No one individual can
protect it. And the f lip side, I believe, [is] no one
individual should be allowed to despoil that.”Astronomershave
voicedtheirconcernsto
SpaceXandfounda receptiveaudience,said
Jeffrey Hall, the director of Lowell Observatory
in Flagstaff, Arizona. “We have not had to
cajole SpaceX in any way; they’ve been very
receptive, very proactive, in holding roughly
monthly telecons with us,” said Hall. “It’s been
a little more staying in touch than making a
lot of progress on mitigation.” One of the 60
spacecraft that launched in January sported
a special coating designed to reduce its
brightness. If everything goes well, and the
coating doesn’t seriously affect the satellite’s
performance, this mitigation measure could
eventually become widespread.
Not everyone is satisfied by such steps.
Astrophysicist and science communicator
Ethan Siegel asked: “Why should astronomers
trust SpaceX – which knows about this
problem but is deliberately worsening this
instead of addressing it before additional
launches – instead of seeking a legal or
international mandate for regulation?” In
response, Hall explained that the astronomy
community doesn’t really have much choice.
“The launches are underway right now. I
think regulation of the Wild West up there is
necessary; that is going to take a great deal of
time to implement, just because of the nature
of that beast,” Hall said. “Therefore, there is
no advantage or upside to distrusting what
SpaceX colleagues have told us,” he added. “We
will simply take them at face value and work as
best as we can and honestly with them to try
to solve the situation.”S
© Farra Observatory
SPACEX’S STARLINK
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