As technology and science advance, we put more and more satellites into orbit, and of course there are many potential problems.
The prototype BlueWalker 3 satellite launched in September is the starting point of the project to transmit signals directly between satellites and mobile phones without having to pass through a base station. It is also one of the brightest objects in the night sky. Although there are space telescopes at high altitudes, many observations of our universe are made from the surface of the earth.
The International Astronomical Union’s Center for the Protection of Dark and Quiet Skies from Satellite Constellations (IAU CPS) says that all but bright stars can be obscured by satellite glare. “The satellite would pull a super-bright trail in images and photos that would saturate astronomical observation detectors, which is the last thing astronomers want,” said Meredith Rawls, an astronomer at the University of Washington in Seattle.
The BlueWalker 3 satellite’s 64-square-meter antenna array is the largest commercial satellite array in low-Earth orbit, reflecting more light than SpaceX’s Starlink satellites. Parent company AST SpaceMobile aims to have more than 100 satellites in the sky by the end of 2024, many even larger than BlueWalker 3. This worries scientists very much.
There’s another problem: BlueWalker 3 was built to act as a cellphone tower in space, meaning its use of radio waves could interfere with radio telescopes, which are currently built far from cell phone coverage areas. The IAU CPS and partners acknowledge the potential of satellites to improve global communications, but want to discuss more about the “equitable and sustainable use of space”.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which regulates domestic and international communications networks in the United States, announced plans to open an office dedicated to space, but at the same time conversations between the IAU CPS and AST SpaceMobile were underway. An AST SpaceMobile spokesperson said: “We are eager to mitigate possible impacts on astronomy using the latest technology and strategies. We actively work with experts to research the latest technologies, including next-generation anti-reflective materials.
(This article is reproduced with the authorization of Taipei Planetarium; source of the first picture: IAU)
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