GoKawiilSign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech Email address Sign Up Thank you!
Earlier this week, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, successfully delivering 25 Starlink satellites into orbit.
While such launches have become astonishingly commonplace, the company achieved a major milestone that day: getting more than 10,000 active Starlink satellites orbiting the Earth at one time, according to data compiled by Harvard astronomer Jonathan McDowell.
The extent of SpaceX’s megaconstellation of broadband-beaming satellites is staggering — a seismic shift in the number of spacecraft in our planet’s orbit that has turned out to be a massive headache for astronomers worldwide.
At first, the satellites reflected most of the Sun’s light, appearing as bright streaks in ground-based night sky observations. In fact, they’ve proven bright enough to be visible to the naked eye, often being mistaken for UFOs.
Updated versions of the small, mostly aluminum terminals were designed to alleviate the problem with black paint and mirror film — changes that, while welcome, have yet to completely address the issue.
Eventually, today’s Starlink satellites may look like a mere prelude. In January, SpaceX filed plans with the Federal Communications Commission for up to one million additional satellites designed to function as orbital data centers to power the company’s AI ambitions.
As Space.com reports, the plans were met with alarm by astronomers, who have spent years collaborating with SpaceX to stop Starlink satellites from ruining their work.
“It really feels like it’s undermining what we have achieved in the last few years, which wasn’t ideal for astronomy, but was a far cry from what we feared in 2019 when the Starlink program began,” astronomer and dark sky consultant John Barentine told Space.com.
Barentine, alongside a consortium of astronomers, filed a challenge to SpaceX’s FCC filing.
... continue reading