One million SpaceX satellites and solar mirrors: Dramatic appeals to the FCC
An established US space company and a startup want to launch many more and even brighter satellites into space. The consequences would be severe, it is warned.
Away from population centers, the night sky can look like this, but for how much longer?
(Image: J. Looten/ESO)
Influential astronomy organizations are sharply criticizing the plans of US companies SpaceX and Reflect Orbital, which want to send hundreds of thousands of satellites into space. The projects are “unacceptable” and would have “disastrous” consequences not only for research, warns, for example, the CEO of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) from Great Britain. Similar warnings come from the European Southern Observatory ESO and the International Astronomical Union. The scientific organizations are protesting to the US communications regulatory authority, Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which decides on the applications of the satellite companies.
Hoping for the FCC
According to its application filed in the fall, Reflect Orbital wants to launch hundreds of thousands of satellites into Earth orbit in the long term. From an altitude of 625 km, they are intended to reflect sunlight onto solar systems to generate some energy there. The stated goal is to reflect 20 percent of the midday sun's energy to Earth during morning and evening hours. Because the satellites move at high speed and can only illuminate narrowly defined areas for a short time, the devices are to be replaced. Therefore, the company plans with a large number of satellites. While the potential for energy generation seems limited, the consequences of the brightly shining satellites for the night sky are likely to be catastrophic, warn astronomers.
SpaceX, in turn, applied to the FCC in January to be allowed to launch up to one million satellites into Earth orbits for a gigantic data center project. The “SpaceX Orbital Data Center System” is to be built at an altitude of 500 to 2000 km and is the “first step towards becoming a Kardashev II-level civilization,” according to the US space company of Elon Musk, as usual, unassumingly. In theory, these are civilizations that can use the entire energy of their star. To achieve this, SpaceX wants to launch satellites that are larger with deployed solar sails than the giant Starship, the largest rocket in human history to date.
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According to the Royal Astronomical Society, thousands of SpaceX satellites would be visible to the naked eye – “many more than visible stars.” Although they are to orbit the Earth at a higher altitude than the Starlink satellites, they will also be illuminated by the sun for longer there. ESO adds that the mega-constellation would cause 10 percent of every astronomical image from the Very Large Telescope (VLT) to be lost due to light trails. If Reflect Orbital's plans for 50,000 solar mirrors in space were realized, the night sky would be three to four times brighter than it is now. “They would also hinder the right of everybody on Earth to enjoy the night sky. That is unacceptable.,” says the CEO of the RAS: “We hope the FCC wholeheartedly rejects the plans.”
(mho)
