Plans by SpaceX and Reflect Orbital to fill Earth’s orbits with satellites have met with fierce opposition from scientists. Members of the Royal Astronomical Society of the United Kingdom believe that these devices will interfere with observations of the Universe.
Plans of American companies
Scientists from the Royal Astronomical Society in the UK are deeply concerned about the plans of SpaceX and Reflect Orbital. The last ones want to deploy a huge number of satellites into Earth’s orbit.
The astronomers’ concerns are certainly understandable. Elon Musk, the head of SpaceX, has stated that he plans to place about a million satellites into orbit. They will function as data centers supporting the operation of artificial intelligence. And the problem isn’t the threat they pose, but the fact that their hulls reflect just as much light as we receive from the stars.
Reflect Orbital’s plans are even more ambitious. They intend to place around 50,000 mirrors in orbit. Each one will reflect the sunlight and shine brighter in the sky than the full moon.
Threat to astronomy
Astronomers’ concerns are quite reasonable. After all, with all those sparkling objects in the sky, we simply won’t be able to see the stars. They have already calculated that only the implementation of Elon Musk’s plans will reduce the amount of data received by the Very Large Telescope in South America by 10%
Plans to place mirrors in orbit could spell disaster for science. Because in that case, the brightness of the night sky would increase three- or fourfold, making it impossible to observe even relatively common astronomical phenomena.
According to phys.org
