SpaceX’s plan to launch one million data centers into orbit worries astronomers, who say the satellite streaks caused by the proposed constellation will seriously impair observations.
Just as astronomers were beginning to learn to coexist with broadband megaconstellations in the low earth orbit (LEO), such as SpaceX Starlinka new threat has emerged, causing considerable concern. Elon Muskits imagined constellation of a million orbital data centers would result in possibly tens of thousands of moving objects as bright as stars which are visible in the night sky at all times, even to the naked eye, according to astronomer and dark-sky consultant John Barentine.
The article continues below
Starlink currently consists of around 10,000 satellites. These spacecraft are visible to the naked eye only shortly after launch, because they dim as they raise their orbital altitude. Starlinks still leaves streaks in telescope images, but SpaceX has, after consultations with the astronomy community, managed to reduce the satellites’ brightness by using less reflective materials and tilting reflective components such as solar panels away from Earth. The brightness of newer Starlink satellites fell to just above the limit recommended by International Astronomical Union to prevent interference with astronomical observations. However, SpaceX’s new data center plan threatens to hinder that progress, according to Barentine.
“It really feels like it undermines what we’ve achieved over the last few years, which was not ideal for astronomy, but was far from what we feared in 2019 when the Starlink program started,” he told Space.com. “We felt like we were going in the right direction that was reasonably sustainable. And this feels like a complete reversal of that.”
According to some estimateseach of the orbiting data centers can be up to 100 meters long, circling the Earth at altitudes between 310 miles and 1,243 miles (500 to 2,000 kilometers) pole to pole with constant exposure to sunlight.
“The other constellations that we’ve dealt with so far are mostly at lower altitudes and in lower-inclination orbits,” Barentine said. “That means the satellites spend most of their time in Earth’s shadow. We don’t really see them that much in the middle of the night, or they’re not that bright. But the data centers will be in high-inclination orbits and will be fully illuminated by sunlight even from the ground at midnight.”
Barentine described the proposal as a “completely different prospect” compared to all other existing and planned constellations.
“This is a challenge unlike any we’ve faced so far in this new era of commercial space,” he said.
The development comes just as the astronomical world is bringing online some of the most powerful sky-observing machines of all time, designed to push the boundaries of human understanding of the universe. These large ground-based scopes, including $10 billion Vera Rubin Observatoryopened last year, or 2 billion dollars Extremely large telescope currently under construction in Chile, will have its observations seriously hampered by these satellites.
“We can plan our observations so that we are not looking in the direction of the satellite as it passes or close the shutter in front of our cameras and open it again later,” Barentine said. “But at some point the time the shutter is closed starts to degrade your observations. And I worry that with more than a million objects, the shutter will be closed more than it would be open.”
Additionally, Barentine and his colleagues estimate that at the expected replacement rate of the constellation’s satellites with newer technology, one old spacecraft would burn up in Earth’s atmosphere every three minutes. This mass burning of metal would result in a steep increase in concentrations of potentially dangerous pollutants such as aluminum oxide and lithium in the upper atmosphere, which can lead to ozone depletion and temperature changes.
Currently, approximately three old satellites or spent rocket bodies perish in the atmosphere every day. Additional air pollution would come from the frequent rocket launches needed to deploy and maintain the constellation. The project will also increase the risk of space debris strike on earth, say the astronomers.
The researchers are even more concerned about the development because the FCC put the application on a fast track, meaning SpaceX does not have to conduct an environmental impact assessment of the project.
Barentine explained that while previously applicants had to prove that a development would not cause significant environmental harm, the fast-track process means it is now up to those objecting to a development to undertake the often time-consuming analyzes to prove their case.
– The prerequisite now is that the application must be approved, and that it should be up to those who can object to prove that there is a problem of some kind, said Barentine. “The fact that they have pursued this application, which has potentially huge effects not only for astronomy but also for the environment, and to do so without engaging in a full environmental review is concerning.”
Opponents only had until March 6 to submit the documentation, which put additional pressure on the astronomers, according to Barentine.
SpaceX did not respond to Space.com’s request for comment.
