A batch of Starlink satellites released on Falcon 9 Rocket
SpaceX
SpaceX’s Starlink satellites leak radio waves to the point that could threaten their ability to study and understand early universes, astronomers say.
Interference from thousands of Starlink satellites in orbit that provide global internet services is a continuing concern for astronomers, saying that radio emissions from crafts could affect sensitive telescopes observing distant, faint radio sources. SpaceX has worked with astronomers to prevent this interference by turning off the beams that travel the Internet when flying major telescopes, but we can see that this is not enough.
Steven Tingay Curtin University in Australia and his colleagues are currently tracking signals from nearly 2,000 Starlink satellites using prototype telescopes from Australia’s Square Kilometer Arraylow Observatory (SKA-low). This planned collection of over 100,000 linked telescopes is currently under construction to study the early universe, but researchers have discovered that this goal could be threatened by Starlink signals, which affect one-third of the data acquired at several frequencies.
They also discovered that satellites emit signals in two frequency ranges that are protected for radio astronomy by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and should not be used in Starlink. However, these satellite transmissions are not considered intentional. The leaking emissions are 10,000 times stronger than the faint radio signal from the neutral hydrogen cloud that existed when the first star began to form, and astronomers want to observe to understand the early universe.
“When you look at the signal strength produced by these unintended emissions, it’s not uncommon to rival the brightest natural radio sources in the sky,” Tingay says. “It’s like taking the most powerful sauces in the sky, putting more artificial sauces in the sky, and doing a lot of movement through them, especially in the experiments that aim to be super sensitive.”
Emissions probably come from onboard electronics that are accidentally transmitting signals through satellite antennas, Tingay says. Such leaks are not technically illegal, he says, as ITU regulations only cover intentional emissions.
“No one breaks the rules from SpaceX or Starlink. These types of emissions are unregulated,” Tingay said. “However, it is beginning to be debated at the ITU about how regulations on these types of emissions can be implemented,” the ITU declined to comment.
“The best way to stop this unintended emission is for the satellite to reduce or stop it,” says Dylan Grigg, a team member at Curtin University. “From the operator’s point of view, it’s great that there’s mitigation in satellites. SpaceX already does that with optical astronomy.” Starlink has made it less of a satellite reflecting to reduce the interference of light.
“These findings are consistent with previous studies we have conducted, but more work is needed to better understand the impact on low-frequency observations,” says a spokesman for SKA-LOW.
Grigg and Tingay have already shared the results with SpaceX, saying the company is embracing a dialogue to find ways to reduce emissions. SpaceX did not respond to requests for comment.
If SpaceX can’t find a solution, researchers should introduce algorithmic solutions to rule out contaminated radio waves. But such efforts are still in the “embryonic stage,” Tingay said, and he says, which could require more computing power than or more than the amount needed to perform the basic processing of the astronomical signal of interest in the first place.
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