Welcome to the age of satellite mechanization. Within the next few years, large networks, containing hundreds or even thousands of spacecraft, could reshape the future of the Earth’s environmental environment.
Much of the attention on these satellite strings has been placed on the productive launches of SpaceX and OneWeb, but the focus is now shifting to Amazon. Last month, the Federal Communications Commission approved a request from the online marketplace to launch its Project Kuiper constellation, which, like SpaceX’s Starlink and OneWeb’s network, aims to expand high-speed Internet services to customers across the globe. world, including to remote communities as subversively hobbled by an ongoing digital divide.
The Kuiper constellation would consist of 3,236 satellites. That’s more than the approximately 2,600 active satellites already orbiting the Earth. Although Amazon’s hardware is a long way from the launch pad, SpaceX has already deployed hundreds of satellites in its Starlink constellation, including 57 additional satellites that launched it on Friday. It can expand it to 12,000, or more. Facebook and Telesat were also able to enter the internet constellation business.
The rapid influx of satellites into low-Earth orbit has been driven by professional and amateur astronomers. Starlink satellites are notorious for ‘photobombing’ astronomical images with bright streaks, which damage the quality and reduce the volume of data that scientists collect for research. While SpaceX plans to reduce the effects of its launches on astronomical observations, scientists and hobbyists in the community are concerned about the lack of regulation of constellations as more occupants like Project Kuiper take part in the action.
“We do not yet have any kind of guidelines in the sector,” said Michele Bannister, a planetary astronomer at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. “We do not have an industry body that produces good corporate citizenship on the part of all these enthusiastic companies that want to launch, and we have not put in place any regulations that give clear guidelines back to the sector.”
She added, “For me, honestly, it feels like setting up a heap of planes and then having no air traffic control.”
© 2020 The New York Times News Service
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