Starlink -Satellites delicious radio signals that can ruin astronomy

SpaceX’s Starlink satellites delicious radio waves for such an external that it can be the ability to study and understand the early universe, says astronomers.

Interference from the thousands of Starlink satellites in orbiting, providing a global Internet service, has been a continued astronomer who says the radio emission from the craft can affect sensitive telescopes that observe distant and weak radio sources. SpaceX has worked with astronomers to try to take this interference by turning off their Internet-transmitted beams when flying over key telescopes, but it turns out that this is not enough.

Steven Tingay at Curtin University in Australia and Hans Colleugues has now tracked the signals from nearly 2,000 Starlink satellites using a prototype telescope from Square Kilometer Array-Low Observatory (Ska-Low) in Australia. This scheduled collection of more than 100,000 small, interconnected telescopes is currently under construction to study the early universe, but the researchers found that this goal could be threatened by Starlink signals transmitting up to a third of the data taken at some frequencies.

They also found that the satellites released signals in two frequency areas protected for radio astronomy of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and it should not be used by Starlink. However, it is believed that these satellite transfers are intentional. The leaking emissions are 10,000 times stronger than weak radio signals from neutral hydrogen clouds that existed when the first stars began to form, signals that astronomers hope to observe to understand the early universe.

“If you look at the signal strength produced by these unintended emissions, it is not unusual for them to be compared to the bright natural radio sources in the sky,” says Tingay. “It’s like taking the strongest sources in the sky and putting a lot more artificial in the sky and getting them moving around in a mass-there has a lot of influence, especially on experiment that seeks to be ultra-led.

The emissions probably come from electronics on board, which accidentally transmits signals through the satellite antenna, says Tingay. Such a leak is not technically illegal as the ITU rules cover only intentional emissions, he says.

“No one breaks any rules from SpaceX or Starlink – these types of emissions are not regulated,” says Tingay. “But it begins to become a discussion in ITU about how rules about this type of emission could be introduced.” ITU refused to comment.

“The best way to stop this unintended emission is for the satellites to reduce it or to stop it,” says team member Dylan Grigg, also at Curtin University. “From the operator, it would be great to have a meal on the satellite, and SpaceX has already done it in optical astronomy.” Starlink made its satellite reflective to reduce light interference.

“These findings have been passed with previous studies we performed, but more work is needed to have a clearer picture of the impact on low-Frenens observations,” says a spokesman for Ska-Low.

Grigg and Tingay have Alredy shared their results with SpaceX and says the company has been open to dialogue about finding a way to reduce emissions. SpaceX Lispond to request comment.

If SpaceX is unable to find a solution, researchers will need to introduce algorithmic solutions to filter the polluting radio waves. However, such efforts are still on an “embryonic internship,” says Tingay, and may require a love of computing power similar to or more needed to perform the basic treatment of astronomical signals of interest in the first place, he says.