Too Many Satellites: Astronomers Voice Concern Over Second-Gen Starlink
SpaceX’s ambitious plan to send up 30,000 satellites for a second-generation Starlink network is facing opposition from some astronomers who want the FCC to hit pause on the request.
“Please do not take the stars away from us. Starlink satellites need better engineering to make them fainter and to use fewer of them to provide service,” University of Regina Assistant Astronomy Professor Samantha Lawler wrote to the FCC last week.
Resistance to the second-generation Starlink network, which is still seeking clearance from the commission, has been growing in FCC regulatory filings(Opens in a new window). Usually, the filing system is used by companies such as SpaceX and its rivals to influence the FCC's decsion to accept or deny a satellite application.
But now some astronomers are using the same system to weigh in, too. “Starlink satellites, and others, already routinely appear in wide field astronomical images, and the growth is clear,” Andy Lawrence, astronomy professor at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, wrote last month.
Lawrence has been a vocal critic of Starlink and other "mega" satellite constellations posing a threat to ground-based astronomy when there's currently(Opens in a new window) only over 5,400 satellites in Earth's orbit. Last month, he went as far to create a guide(Opens in a new window) on how anyone, including astronomers, can submit a filing to the FCC about the second-generation Starlink network. Since then, five other astronomers and physicists have sent letters to the FCC, urging the agency to pause or reject SpaceX’s 30,000-satellite plan.
The Astronomical Society of Edinburgh—where Lawrence is an honorary president— has also submitted a filing(Opens in a new window), urging the FCC to
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