As low Earth orbit becomes more crowded, Starlink satellites are doing thousands of avoidance maneuvers, adding to concerns that a catastrophic impact is unavoidable.
According to a recent filing with the Federal Communications Commission, SpaceX’s orbital communication satellites made little over 25,000 moves in the six-month period between December 1, 2022, and May 21, 2023. The corporation stated that it employs a maneuvering threshold that is “an order of magnitude” stricter than the norm for the sector. While NASA and other industry companies utilize a threshold of 1 in 10,000, SpaceX’s satellites relocate when the likelihood of a collision is greater than 1 in 100,000.
However, this is twice as many avoidance maneuvers as Starlink satellites performed during the last reporting period. Alongside the expansion of the Starlink constellation, the quantity of collision avoidance moves increases: SpaceX reported placing 457 satellites in orbit during the most recent period.
Over 1,300 of the 25,000 movements were performed to avoid debris from Russia’s demonstration test of anti-satellite weapons in November 2021. Even though just 9% of the debris from that test is still in orbit, the submission claimed that it posed the greatest overall risk to Starlink satellites.
Obviously, SpaceX is not the only business with plans to launch a massive constellation into orbit. By the end of the decade, there will probably be tens of thousands more objects in orbit, even if some of these programs fail.
A study that was published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics only a few days after SpaceX submitted its report discovered that Starlink satellites release “unintended electromagnetic radiation” that may have an impact on astronomical studies. The radiation from 68 Starlink satellites was detected by the study’s authors using a Low Frequency Array telescope. This is different from the kinds of satellite communications satellite that astronomers have previously had to deal with.
A study that was published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics only a few days after SpaceX submitted its report discovered that Starlink satellites release “unintended electromagnetic radiation” that may have an impact on astronomical studies. The radiation from 68 Starlink satellites was detected by the study’s authors using a Low Frequency Array telescope. This is different from the kinds of satellite communications satellite that astronomers have previously had to deal with.
The simulations the study’s authors ran on the impact of various satellite constellations revealed a cumulative effect from the radiation.
According to study co-author and member of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Germany, Benjamin Winkel, “our simulations show that the larger the constellation, the more important this effect becomes as the radiation from all the satellites adds up.” This raises the worries regarding both planned and existing constellations, as well as the lack of a clear regulatory framework to safeguard radio astronomy bands from unwanted radiation.
Federico Di Vruno, co-director of the International Astronomical Union Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky, is the study’s lead author. One of the groups that has spoken out the loudest about the possible effects of satellite constellations on astronomy is the IAU. According to a news statement on the study, the authors are “in close contact” with SpaceX, and the business has already made modifications to the following generation of Starlink satellites to assist lessen the effects of these emissions.
