Can you imagine looking up at the sky and seeing thousands of ‘fake stars’? Although it may seem crazy, this is precisely what Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, intends with the Starlink project, a satellite network that would provide high-speed Internet to the entire world, even in the most remote areas. But, even though the idea sounds good, some do not view it favorably.
The Starlink Project has already launched 4,000 satellites into orbit, with plans to launch an additional 42,000 in the coming years. What’s remarkable about these satellites, which orbit at 550 kilometers of altitude, is that they reflect sunlight and can be seen as bright points in the sky. These bright points move in a synchronized line.
It’s a spectacle that astonishes many observers (myself included), to the point that more than one might have thought we were being invaded by aliens. However, astronomers are much more concerned about this situation than impressed by it.
The issue at hand is that, according to scientists, Starlink poses a threat to nighttime sky observation, as the satellites interfere with telescope imagery and contribute to light pollution.
When a satellite crosses the field of view of a telescope, it is extremely bright,” says David J. Helfand, a professor of Astronomy at Columbia University, in an interview with National Geographic.
“The objects we are trying to study (distant galaxies and stars) are 20 million times fainter than the satellites. So when one of these streaks crosses the image, it completely wipes it out.”
But Musk’s satellites are not just a problem for astronomical observation. With such a large number of satellites in space, the amount of space debris in the atmosphere will increase significantly, thereby raising the risk of collisions with other spacecraft.
Will SpaceX work on reducing the brightness of Starlink satellites and finding a way to recycle them to avoid generating more space debris? What is clear is that we are already surrounded by Starlink satellites, and it will become increasingly likely to encounter them while observing the night sky.
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