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An astronomical picture caused by hiking trails caused by Satellites from SpaceX ‘Starlink Megaconstellation. | Credit: Victoria Girgis/Lowell Observatory
There is no doubt that the Starlink Internet service from SpaceX has connected the world like never before – but at what costs? Astronomers have long had concerns about Starlink’s satellite constellation that affect the observations of the universe, and a new survey by Curtin University confirms these fears.
In an analysis of 76 million pictures from a prototype station for the radio telescope of the square kilometer array (SKA), the Starlink satellite emissions were influenced up to 30% of the images in some data records. Such an interference could influence the research results that depend on this data. The survey identified more than 112,000 radio emissions from 1,806 Starlink satellite and showed that the observed interference is not intended.
“Some satellites have been detected in ribbons in which no signals are said to be available at all, such as the 703 satellites that we identified at 150.8 MHz, which is to be protected for the radio astronomy,” Dylan Grigg, Ph.D. Candidate at Curtin University said in a statement.
Grigg found that these unintentional emissions from Onboard Electronics could come. “Because … they are not part of a deliberate signal, astronomers cannot easily predict or filter them out,” he said.
While the international telecommunications union regulates satellite emissions to protect astronomical observations, the current rules “concentrate on deliberate transmissions and do not covers this type of unintentional emission,” said Steven Tingay, Curtin professor and managing director of the Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy.
A series of SpaceX Starlink satellites before use. | Credit: SpaceX
However, it is not just Starlink satellites that are the problem. The student team’s survey focused on Starlink, since it currently has the most extensive constellation, with more than 7,000 satellites being used at the time of the survey, but other satellite networks can also “expire” unintentional transmissions.
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“It is important to note that Starlink does not violate the current regulations. Therefore, nothing is wrong. The discussions we have led to this topic with SpaceX were constructive,” said Tingay. “We hope that this study will increase support for international efforts to update guidelines that regulate the effects of this technology on the current radio astronomy research.”
The team’s research was published in the magazine Astronomy & Astrophysics.
