Numerous stories have been written about the growing swarm of Starlink satellites in low earth orbit (LEO) over the past few years, as astronomers grow increasingly worried about the crafts’ impact on their observation equipment. Launched by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, each satellite has the potential to disrupt astronomy through both radio emissions and light pollution — and as the number of satellites grows, so too does the amount of interference.
Now, a new study by researchers at NASA is warning that obstructions caused by SpaceX and other private satellite companies are becoming so severe that not even the Hubble Space Telescope is safe.
As reported by El Pais, the research was led by led by Spanish astrophysicist Alejandro Serrano Borlaff at NASA. In the study, Borlaff concludes that one out of every three Hubble images will become contaminated by light pollution if satellite projects planned for the next decade come to fruition.
Currently, SpaceX has permission from the US Federal Communications Commission to launch 12,000 satellites into LEO, and is eyeing an additional 30,000 over the next few years. All told, the researchers argue that current satellite constellations could be joined by as many as 500,000 more over the next decade.
“This is the first scientific study whose main objective is to investigate the effects of light pollution on space telescopes, taking into account these plans announced by the industry,” Borlaff told El Pais.
Hubble is far from the only space telescope affected, and future astronomy craft will likely fare much worse. According to Borlaff and his team, bright streaks of light are projected to appear in 96 percent of the images from the European Space Agency’s ARRAKIHS, which is eying a launch window sometime in the 2030s.
NASA’s recently launched SPHEREx, meanwhile, could see upward of 99 percent of its images contaminated with light pollution.
Whether this future comes to pass remains to be seen, but there‘s precious little time to roll back the clock. Any efforts to mitigate this harm to the astronomical community will require international regulators to band together and limit commercial activity in LEO — something which spacefaring countries like the US seem hesitant to commit to.
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