SpaceX wants to launch 42,000 satellites

Little time? At the end of the text there is a summary.

As a radio astronomer Heino Falcke deals with the invisible to the eye phenomena of the universe. He is one of the key minds behind the first image of a black hole that researchers from a worldwide telescope network have come up with in the spring. (See here a detailed video on the topic.) Radio waves have a much larger wavelength than visible light, intergalactic clouds of dust and fog make them on their way through space nothing.

So, because Falcke does not observe in the visible light spectrum, he could easily see a development that will forever change the night sky above our heads: Several corporations want to launch countless satellites that will allow global access to the Internet. At least a part of them are likely to pull over the sky as new, artificial stars.

The US company SpaceX of Elon Musk with its Starlink constellation is currently causing quite a stir - also because the company apparently wants to launch significantly more satellites into space than previously known.

And 30,000 additional satellites.

If one adds the previously announced ones, SpaceX would even reach more than 40,000. That would be five times as many spacecraft as humanity has so far shot in space. According to statistics from the Union of Concerned Scientists, 2062 satellites are currently in operation.

"That just goes too far," complains astronomer Falcke in an interview with the SPIEGEL. However, he is less concerned with the scientific as well as the aesthetic consequences of the large SpaceX project. "Due to light pollution, we can not see the sky in the cities anymore, so at least I want to admire it in the open air." But that made the mega-constellations impossible. In addition to and SpaceX other companies such as OneWeb or Amazon have their own satellite fleets for the Internet from space in preparation.

Honestly, this will be a disaster - the sky will never be the same again. After plastic soup in the ocean we will now litter the heavens. Where does it stop? https://t.co/IFb0WzcCCk

To understand the dimension of the problem, Falcke makes an account: the entire sky, he explains, can be divided into 40,000 small areas, each a so-called square degree large. In such a square degree, the moon fits in four times. With more than 40,000 SpaceX satellites in each of these small sky areas, a potential new star would be on the way.

Not all satellites will be visible in the sky at all times. Nevertheless, to the arrangement: In a summer night are currently about 450 stars in the sky to admire. Even if only a tiny fraction of the Starlink satellites reflected sunlight, the nocturnal image above our heads would change radically.

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The International Astronomical Union has expressed itself in a statement "worried" about the planned mega-constellations. And that was before the new plans of SpaceX. "Amateur astronomers are more affected than the professionals," says Caroline Liefke of the Association of the Star Friends after the new announcement. If you take photos of the sky, you risk that these are only spoiled by the stripes of the satellites. There is software to remove the traces - but this increases the effort of observation.

Almost collision in September

About one-tenth of the 60 Satellite satellites launched by SpaceX in May proved to be uncontrollable in space, Liefke complains. From these tumbling specimens would go out the biggest disturbance for the sky observers. In addition, threatened with collisions with other missiles new space junk. In fact, in the beginning of September, only a hasty correction maneuver in the European satellite control center in Darmstadt had ensured that there was no collision between a Starlink satellite and the Esa observatory "Aeolus".

The @ ESA earth observation satellite #Aeolus detonated its engines this morning and was able to break away from the collision course with a @ SpaceX satellite in the # Starlink constellation. pic.twitter.com/OVWEFa46s8

The fact that Elon Musk can launch the 40,000 satellites in the foreseeable future, however, puts Liefke in doubt: "I think that's also a marketing strategy." SpaceX wants to reserve not least orbits and transmission frequencies, "so as to ultimately limit the competition."

SpaceX has requested the launch of additional satellites from the US federal agency, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). And in turn, on October 7, the documents were forwarded to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a UN agency that works internationally to ensure that satellites do not interfere with each other.

Into space within seven years

Specifically, according to the Space News, the FCC has registered 20 packets of 1,500 SpaceX satellites each at the ITU Geneva headquarters, which are supposed to move around the Earth in orbits between 328 and 580 kilometers in altitude and transmit at different frequencies. When the satellites are to be started, is not in the documents.

Registration is a normal part of the space business. According to the current rules of the ITU, within seven years an operator must launch at least one satellite for which he has applied for a specific frequency. Then nobody else should use it. Once in orbit, however, the technology must work for at least 90 days, otherwise the registration with the authority expires. The rules should soon be tightened - also with regard to the planned Internet satellite constellations.

SpaceX sees a simple reason to increase the number of planned Internet satellites so drastically. A company spokesperson said customers simply needed more network capacity and data density for a reliable Internet around the world. "Especially for those where there is no connectivity, where it is too expensive or unreliable." Because it is clear: While a planned transport service of the company to Moon and Mars must first prove to be profitable, in the Internet business may possibly earn a lot of money in the long term.

In summary: SpaceX wants to significantly increase its planned constellation of Internet satellites. Instead of 12,000 satellites, Elon Musk's company now plans to launch 42,000. Relevant documents have been submitted by the competent US authority to the United Nations. Currently, all countries in the world together have a good 2000 active satellites in space. Astronomers are critical of SpaceX's plans. They fear that the image of the night sky is too much changed. In addition, other companies are also planning large satellite fleets for worldwide Internet coverage.