SpaceX's Million Satellite Plan Could Wreck Ground-Based Astronomy, ESO Study Warns
Astronomers have grumbled about satellite megaconstellations for years, and those complaints date all the way back to the first bright strings of Starlink satellites streaking across telescope images in 2020. A new study from the European Southern Observatory suggests the grumbling is about to become a full-blown crisis. Current filings would put more than 1.7 million additional satellites into orbit, and SpaceX alone wants 1 million of them for space-based data centers. ESO's conclusion is blunt. Without hard limits, modern astronomy may not survive the traffic.
The core problem is sunlight. Satellites reflect it, which makes them far brighter than the distant galaxies telescopes strain to capture, and every pass leaves a streak that erases whatever sits behind it. The study, authored by ESO astronomer Olivier Hainaut, has been peer reviewed and accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics, according to ESO. Hainaut simulated the position, motion,...
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