Satellites of the Global Internet System Elon Musk Starlink hinder scientific discovery. They “fundamentally change” the practice of astronomical observations from the Earth’s surface. In addition, space stations and the security of the planet were at risk.
Astronomy has found itself at a critical point, which creates obstacles for observing space. And this acute situation, according to scientists from Southern California, was created by Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starlink satellites. “Satellites can interfere with ground-based observations, increasing the difficulty of differentiating artificial satellites from natural objects such as asteroids and comets,” NASA warns.
This is a picture from a telescope that hit the Starlink satellites. The photo is essentially corrupted by reflected streaks of light. And such defective shots are almost a quarter of several hundred thousand. Astronomers are afraid that this will create an obstacle to the search for dangerous asteroids.
“When SpaceX increases the number of satellites, this problem will be greater,” said Alexander Khokhlov, a member of the Northwestern organization of the Federation of Cosmonautics of Russia. “From the point of view of companies that make satellites, this is a decrease in the reflectivity of their satellites. the bunny “was much smaller, weaker than it is now, when it harms astronomers.”
In earth orbit it’s getting frankly tight. Satellite constellations fly mixed with space debris. About 20 thousand objects larger than 10 centimeters and millions of those that are smaller. Scientists are already recording that every week Starlink satellites at least one and a half thousand times pass near other space bodies. There were no collisions. But if it happens, no one gives guarantees that it will be a blow with garbage.
“Even if all these vehicles will not fail, but to provide constant avoidance of collisions with fragments that are debris, with fragments that were put into orbit – this is a serious task,” said Nathan Eismont, a leading researcher at the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. “So far, according to our current levels of technology, this is very expensive.”
So far, less than 2,000 Starlink satellites are orbiting the Earth. A few years later, Musk wants to put 12 thousand into different orbits. But this is not the limit: the company plans to send 42,000 vehicles into outer space. How badly will science suffer for the sake of global Internet?
“The greatest threat is to the observation of near-Earth objects, to the observation of the near environment in our solar system, that is, those very near-Earth asteroids,” notes Vitaly Egorov, popularizer of astronautics, blogger Zelenyikot. “That is, in this case, a small part of astronomy will really suffer, but at the same time, most ground-based telescopes will not lose their relevance.”
Among other things, scientists are also worried that the so-called Kessler effect may arise – when the number of satellites and other objects in near-Earth orbit becomes so large that it will be impossible to further study the near space. So, it will be necessary to stop flying. How does Musk mitigate such risks?
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