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Last month, SpaceX successfully launched 60 500-pound satellites in space. Soon, amateur observers began sharing images of these satellites in the night sky, causing an uproar among astronomers who fear that the projected orbit group will wreak havoc on scientific research and disrupt our vision of the cosmos.
The main problem is that these 60 satellites are just a drop of water. SpaceX plans to launch thousands of satellites – creating a mega constellation of fake stars collectively called Starlink, which will connect the entire planet to the Internet and introduce a new business sector for the private space flight company.
Astronomers agree that global Internet services are a laudable goal, but the satellites are very bright.
"This has the potential to change the appearance of a natural sky," said Tyler Nordgren, an astronomer who is now working full time. promote the night sky.
And SpaceX is not alone. Other companies, such as Amazon, Telesat and OneWeb want to get into the space internet business. Their ambitions to make satellites almost as numerous as mobile towers point to conflicting debates as old as the age of space on the proper use of the last frontier.
While private companies are seeing major business opportunities in low earth and beyond, many skygazers fear that space is no longer "the province of all humanity", as stipulated in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty.
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The launch of Starlink was one of SpaceX's most ambitious missions in orbit.
Each satellite has a solar panel that not only captures sunlight, but also reflects it back to Earth. Elon Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX, proposed insurance that the satellites will be visible only a few hours after sunset and before sunrise, then barely.
But the first images have led many scientists to question his claims.
The first images captured, for example, revealed a spaceship train as brilliant as Polaris, the North Star. And while a SpaceX press secretary said the satellites would become weaker and weaker as they move to higher orbits, some astronomers believe that they will be visible to the naked eye during the summer nights.
Satellites can even "Burst" briefly increasing their brightness to rival that of Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, when their solar panels are perfectly oriented.
Astronomers are concerned that these reflections threaten star gazing and their research.
Whenever a satellite passes through a long exposure image of the sky, it causes a long shiny streak – typically ruining the image and forcing astronomers to take another one. While telescope operators have been dealing with these headaches for years, Starlink alone could triple the number of satellites currently in orbit, a number that would become larger if other companies headed into space. .
An estimate suggests that the large synoptic telescope – an 8.4-meter telescope under construction on a Chilean mountain that will soon sweep the entire sky – may have to deal with one to four Starlink satellites in each image during the first hours of dusk.
And astronomers do not know yet how they will adjust. "We are really at the stage where we have to evaluate what we are going to do," said Ronald Drimmel, astronomer at the Turin Astrophysical Observatory in Italy.
Not only do these satellites reflect light, but they also emit radio frequencies – which worries a number of astronomers. The dishes used in radio astronomy are often built in places far away from cell towers and radio stations. But if Starlink is launched in its entirety – with the ability to transmit reception to anywhere on the planet – these so-called radio silences may become a thing of the past.
In addition, some worry that Starlink plans to exploit two ranges of frequencies used by astronomers to map gas in the universe – allowing them to see how planets as large as Jupiter s' assemble and how the galaxies formed immediately after the Big Bang.
"If these frequency channels become inaccessible, this will greatly limit our knowledge of the primitive universe," said Caitlin Casey, astronomer at the University of Texas at Austin.
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory, a federally funded research center that operates facilities around the world, said Friday in a statement that it was working directly with SpaceX to minimize potential impacts. The group discusses what it called exclusion zones around some radio astronomy facilities, where SpaceX satellites would go out when they moved overhead.
Dr. Casey is concerned that this still restricts the place of work of radio astronomers.
This week on Twitter, Mr. Musk m said Starlink will avoid the use of any of these two frequency ranges. But Dr. Casey said it was possible that adjacent frequencies used by satellites could spread into areas studied by astronomers, even if they are technically blocked.
Despite the outcry, Dr Drimmel said he was not calling for Starlink's suspension.
"I do not assume that astronomy should be considered more important than anything else," he said. "So, there may be concessions and compromises that must be made."
But he worries about the irrevocable impact on human culture if Internet satellites forever alter the night sky.
"What I find amazing is that whatever we do affects everyone on the planet," Dr. Drimmel said.
Alex Parker, a global astronomer from the Southwest Research Institute, said on Twitter that if these satellites go into orbit by the thousands, they could soon more numerous than all visible stars at the naked eye. And even if just 500 are observable at any timeDr. Drimmel warns that it will be difficult to distinguish the constellations among these moving projectors.
"It sounds dystopian", Dr. Casey I said.
Much of the frustration stems from the fact that discussions about the impact of this project did not take place before the launch. And it may be just the beginning.
"This is really the tip of the iceberg, especially as we enter a world where many multibillionaires have the ability and desire to do things like this," said Dr. Nordgren.
Astronomers hope that today's conversation will shape the future. "I think it's good that we make some noise about this problem," said Dr. Drimmel. "If we are not aware of the threat, so to speak, everything will go as planned and it will be too late."
Already, Mr. Musk has asked SpaceX work on reducing the brightness of future satellites.
And other companies seem not to takee. An Amazon press secretary said it would be years before the Kuiper Project – the company's plan to place more than 3,000 Internet satellites in orbit – is available. But Amazon will assess the security of space and concerns about light pollution when designing its satellites, said the press officer.
Telesat, another participant, said its smaller constellation would operate in higher orbits than satellites in some companies, which would make their satellites less bright.
Mr Musk also annoyed some astronomers when he said on Twitter that Starlink was for the "bigger good. "
"Who has the right to decide that?" Dr Nordgren asked. "And do we all agree that we are all willing to make that compromise?"
The night sky has the power to make people impressed, he said.
"A starry night sky reminds us that we are part of a much larger whole, that we are a person in a world populated by people surrounded by the vast depths of the visible universe," said Dr. Nordgren.
While they may think Starlink's goal is valid, scientists are wondering if this is really the best thing.
"I'm sure that there will be a positive impact in terms of the internet in the world, but it's scary to blatantly say, as a person or business, that it takes precedence over our knowledge of our own universe, "said Dr. Casey.
In the end, many people agree that the risks are far too great for this decision to be made by a single company. And Mr Casey hopes that SpaceX will take a cooperative approach with leading astronomy organizations.
"The idea that one or two people somewhere in a country in a conference room may decide that the following constellations will suddenly be fluid and will pass from night to night and from hour to hour – well, I do not think whether it's their decision. do, "said Dr. Nordgren.
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