If you thought that the current crop of satellite megaconstellations was bad, you will be very disappointed by the new proposals from SpaceX and a company called Reflect Orbital. Their joint projects would change the night sky as we know it, and the world’s astronomical community is crying – especially letters from the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), the European Southern Observatory (ESO), and the International Astronomical Union (IAU) strongly oppose the project, which is currently sitting with the Federal Approval Commission (FCC) of America.
There are actually two different plans that the FCC is considering. SpaceX has launched one to launch one million satellites into low Earth orbit. You read that right – one million. That’s many orders of magnitude more than ten thousand originally thought it would need to complete its communications satellites. So what will these hundreds of thousands of additional satellites be doing in space? This may come as no surprise given Elon Musk’s recent efforts to merge SpaceX with xAI, but they will serve as AI data centers.
According to estimates, even with the dark cloak that SpaceX has developed specifically to reduce the visibility of their satellites, thousands of satellites will still be visible to the eye at any given time. Estimates from ESO’s Very Large Telescope estimate that the VLT could lose 10% of its total data due to satellite trajectories. That information is rare, and can rule out transient events such as supernovae or a fast-moving Near-Earth Object (NEO).
Fraser talks about how SpaceX is fighting light pollution – with paint.
Reflect Orbital, a little-known company, has perhaps an even more dangerous project for the night sky. It wants to project 50,000 mirrors to deliberately shine the sun into a space aimed at Earth. You read that right – they want to end the night.
Technically their purpose is to provide the desired day trading day after dark. According to RAS, the light from each orbiting satellite would be four times brighter than the full Moon. But photons don’t behave well, and Earth’s atmosphere is notorious for scattering them, so contamination from these beams down through space can be a disaster for astronomy. According to calculations from RAS, Reflect Orbital projects would make the night sky 3-4 times brighter than its natural state.
This would be a problem not only for astronomy, but also for natural planning. Biologists warn that artificial light at night is damaging the nocturnal environment, affecting everything from bird migration to insect populations. And there have been many studies showing how people who sleep in the dark benefit more than those who sleep in the light.
Fraser talks about how many satellites we can put into orbit
Dr. Robert Massey, Deputy Executive Director at RAS, was tight-lipped about the FCC’s reports. “These proposals would not only have a negative impact on the science of astronomy, they would also interfere with the right of everyone on Earth to enjoy the night sky. That is unacceptable.” Dr. Massey said. “The stars above us are an important part of our human heritage – using more than one million exceptionally bright satellites would completely destroy this and destroy the natural environment. We hope that the FCC wholeheartedly rejects the plans.”
But there is a sad reality of the political reality of this situation – RAS and ESO are not American, they are British and European respectively. Despite their popularity in the interstellar community, they have little power to influence a group of American bureaucrats who answer to the American government, and therefore the American people. The IAU, on the other hand, has a presence in America, but so far its regulatory efforts to reduce the impact of development on the night sky have not been particularly effective.
It remains to be seen whether these new proposals will be implemented or not. Their best game against them may be the economy itself. Although SpaceX is already a billion dollar company that will soon receive its IPO, the economics of hosting data centers in space is still an untested area. Reflect Orbital, on the other hand, is still a relatively new entrant in the game, and market demand for their daylight-as-a-service model is also untested.
But for now, it will be up to the American authorities to decide the fate of the night sky. If you think you have any control over them at all, and if you are worried about the impact this will have on astronomy and the health of the planet in general, you might want to add your voice to the chorus of voices against these plans.
Learn more:
RAS – SpaceX and Reflect Orbital projects would ‘forever terrorize’ the night sky
UT – Out of Control Light Pollution
UT – Satellite Stars Are Too Bright, Astronomy Threats to Our Night Sky
UT – Satellites Illuminate the Sky by about 10% Worldwide
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