The satellites launched by the Starlink project to provide global high-speed Internet access could complicate astronomical observations with ground-based radio telescopes. In such conditions, scientists can only hope for the construction of radio telescopes on the far side of the moon. In addition, spacecraft, whose number in the future will reach tens of thousands, increase the risk of developing Kessler syndrome. Writes about this publication Science Alert.
According to astronomer Alan Duffy of Swinburne University in Australia, there are techniques that can mask the satellites so that they do not noise the data. Optical telescopes, such as the Pan-STARRS asteroid tracking complex, automatically remove orbiters from images. Radio telescopes make observations at radio frequencies that are not used by satellite systems such as GPS, which would otherwise be "blindingly bright" for astronomical equipment.
At the moment, there are 5162 objects in low-earth orbit, of which about two thousand are functioning. The Starlink project plans to launch 12,000 satellites. For Duffy, this could be the end for ground-based radio and microwave telescopes. Satellites are much less noisy for astronomical data than terrestrial sources of radio waves. Humans will no longer be able to observe CMB or signals from forming stars from Earth. Although the universal benefits of a high-speed global Internet, in general, will outweigh the losses of astronomers, the scientist admits.
To complicate matters, an attempt at cooperation between the US observatories and SpaceX, undertaken several years earlier, had failed. The aerospace company did not provide astronomers with detailed plans for the development of the Starlink project. One of the reasons for this may be that the launched satellites are test satellites. However, several more launches are planned for 2019.
Another problem is that most of the satellites will be located in areas with a high concentration of space debris. If SpaceX's plans are fully implemented, then within a few years the number of facilities here will increase by 40 percent. According to space archaeologist Alice Gorman of Flinders University in Australia, the increase is very dramatic as the current mass of debris has been accumulating for 60 years.
Although SpaceX has provided for the rapid decommissioning of satellites within a year, in the event of a premature failure, the devices will burn in the atmosphere only after five years. This time is sufficient for a significant number of collisions. This, in turn, can cause a chain reaction and an indomitable growth of debris, known as Kessler's syndrome, scientists say.