The Cost of Global Satellite Internet: Worse Astronomy
A select group of billionaire-backed corporations have lofty objectives: they intend to launch tens of thousands of communication satellites to offer high-speed internet connectivity around the world. In competition for this lucrative market are Elon Musk's StarLink, Jeff Bezos' Project Kuiper, One Web, GuoWang, and others. We may anticipate that approximately 50,000 new satellites will orbit the Earth in less than ten years. That is around ten times the number that are presently in use.
In general, having access to high-speed internet across the globe is beneficial, particularly for those living in rural or underdeveloped regions with inadequate infrastructure.
However, there is a drawback. Reflective solar panels are installed on all those satellites. This gives them brightness and causes astronomical problems.
Assume you work as an astronomer. You have just spent a colossal sum of money creating a massive, top-notch telescope. You start doing science experiments and take picture after picture of the night sky. You may occasionally notice one or two satellite streaks in your photos before the arrival of these "mega-constellations." Not a big deal; just discard those. You possess plenty of valuable info.
But now that so many satellites have been launched and so many businesses are providing their worldwide internet services? It turns nearly every night into a terrible one.
Although not all astronomy is touched by satellites, some observational programs are more severe than others. For example, high-altitude orbiting telescopes are more likely to obtain corrupted photos since they are located closer to the mega-constellations. The results of telescopes that attempt to capture as wide an image as possible may be distorted. Because of the angle at which the satellites and the sun are positioned, the problem is most severe in the early evening and shortly before morning.
Regretfully, there is no easy way to enjoy unadulterated astronomy and worldwide satellite internet at the same time. Rather, we must use a range of mitigating strategies:
Beg and beg with the firms to reduce the brightness of their satellites by changing their color and shape. Regretfully, there is no legal requirement on the part of the companies to take any action.
To ensure that an observation program doesn't intersect with a satellite, use computers to simulate the satellites' positions. Because we'll be collecting fewer data, this will lessen the quantity of polluted data. Thus, every night there will be less astronomy done.
After the observation, remove the satellite tracks from the pictures. It is possible to accomplish this in a vague but unsatisfactory way. What then should we do about this? Before more satellites are launched, we need to have serious conversations about the preservation of astronomy, a field that is mostly supported by public government programs. It will basically be too late if we even wait a few years. Perhaps society is willing to accept slightly less-than-ideal astronomy observing programs in return for the advantages of widespread internet access. Perhaps not. But we will never be able to decide until we have a conversation about it.
RELATED NEWS
