Astronomers are creating a new global force to stop Elon Musk’s internet satellites hiding killer asteroids

A union of astronomers is taking action to protect the night sky from damage from the thousands of satellites launched by companies like SpaceX.

Huge satellite systems known as megaconstellations, including the thousands that Elon Musk’s private space company launched to create the Starlink network, leave bright trails in images taken by astronomers’ telescopes.

Starlink satellites now leave 35 more tracks in photographs than two years ago, and now one is found every ten days.

Today, the International Astronomical Union has set up a new organization to combat this phenomenon.

The new Center for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference – working alongside the National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab) in the US and the Square Kilometer Array Organization (SKAO) in the UK – to “unify voices across the global astronomical community regarding the protection of dark and calm skies from interference from satellite constellations”

Concerns, SKAO’s Federico Di Vruno told the BBC, were that science could become a “free-for-all” if too many megaconstellations cluttered the sky.

Along with Starlink’s aim to put 40,000 satellites in space – which could result in every twilight image taken by astronomers being corrupted by four bright white streaks – OneWeb in the UK and Amazon’s Project Kuiper also aim to launch their own networks.

Their pollution could influence radio detectors studying the universe after the Big Bang and planetary defense against incoming asteroids.

“At optical wavelengths, observations with long exposure times will be most affected, especially in the hours near twilight, and when observing low to the horizon. A prime example would be potentially hazardous research on asteroids carried out by the International Asteroid Warning Network.” he said.

NOIRLab’s Connie Walker highlighted the concerns. “As the number of satellites continues to grow, astronomy faces a watershed moment of increasing interference with observations and loss of science,” Ms Walker said.

“By the end of a decade, more than 5,000 satellites will be above the horizon at any one time at a typical dark-sky observatory location. Some 100 to several 1,000 of these satellites will be illuminated by the Sun. These satellites will be detectable by even the smallest optical or infrared telescopes, depending on the time of night and the season.”

This is not the first time such calls have been made. In August 2020, hundreds of astronomers warned that megaconstellations would have “extremely significant impact on the most severely affected science programs”.

SpaceX has deployed various tactics to reduce the visibility of its satellite array, including painting them black and twisting the position of their solar panels to make them less reflective. It appears that these techniques have not proven to be sufficiently useful.

Neither SpaceX, OneWeb, or Amazon responded to a request for The Independent for comment before posting time.