SpaceX and Starlink boss Elon Musk wants to place 42,000 satellites in orbit. The goal: fast internet anywhere in the world without the gigantic effort of laying fiber optic cables. What seems like a great idea, however, has catches that Musk has so far ignored.
It’s getting full in the night sky. Space companies are putting more and more satellites into orbit. One of the most ambitious projects in this field is that of Tesla boss Elon Musk, with whom he wants to supply the world with satellite-based Internet: Starlink. Actually a great idea – fast network anywhere in the world without the gigantic effort of laying fiber optic cables.
But the criticism of Starlink and thus of Musk is growing. On Tuesday, the Tesla boss is the star guest at the mobile communications fair in Barcelona. He will talk via video stream about his gigantic project and the Starlink offer, which has also been available in Germany for a few months.
So far, the criticism of Starlink has mainly come from its competitors, including companies such as Boeing, SES, OneWeb or Viasat, which also operate satellites in space – albeit on a different scale. In view of the Giga project, they see their access to space endangered, but they also argue with the associated environmental implications.
It’s about 42,000 satellites
And it’s pretty remarkable what the SpaceX and Starlink boss has come up with. He wants to place 42,000 satellites on a so-called “Low Earth Orbit” (LEO), ie at an altitude of around 500 kilometers above the earth’s surface. There the systems would then fall permanently around the world and supply people on the ground with the Internet.
So far, SpaceX has launched around 1,800 satellites, and the US regulatory authority responsible for this, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), has allowed Starlink to launch 4,400 satellites so far. The FCC also issues the radio licenses that Musk needs for Starlink.
The Musk critics from the business world are only just positioning themselves. Science is already further. Researchers have long been warning of the incalculable consequences of having too many satellites in space. The missiles, which are largely made of aluminum, reflect sunlight so strongly that they can easily be seen in the night sky in the dark.
The more of them there are in the LEO, the stronger this effect is – critics fear that this could lighten the night sky so much that the work of astronomers would be hindered. Studies show that satellites like those from Starlink already brighten the night sky by ten percent.
There is already a solution to this problem: The metal surface of the missile could be darkened to prevent light reflections and scattering. When releasing his satellites, Musk has so far ignored this – much to the annoyance of many scientists.
Satellites affect night skies
The Tesla boss responded to the criticism, as so often, via the short message service Twitter. He said there that he would work to ensure that Starlink does not interfere with science. One possibility would be to test satellites that reflect less sunlight, so-called “DarkSats”.
But there is another problem with the missiles: LEO satellites are designed to burn up in the atmosphere as soon as they have finished their service. What if the number of missiles grew as much as Musk plans? Unlike the natural materials that fall from space to earth every day, satellites are mainly made of aluminum.
If too much of this metal burns up in the upper atmosphere, it can happen that the incident sunlight is refracted and scattered differently than before. That, in turn, could affect the night sky. There are even greater concerns that the substances released in the process could attack the ozone layer. The consequences are incalculable. “One must not experiment with the environment,” said Steve Collar, the head of SES, an international commercial satellite operator, the “Handelsblatt”.
Multiple solutions
The criticism that Starlink’s competitors are currently raising is not just about the environmental impacts that a large number of satellites have with them. “Satellites in the LEO are touted as the only viable solution when it comes to Internet from space for underserved areas,” says SES spokeswoman Suzanne Ong. “But that’s not true. Let’s not forget the geostationary and medium-sized Earth orbit satellites that are already connecting communities and businesses in remote areas.”
The criticism from companies like SES or Viasat is of course also driven by their own interests. Their point is that Musk could make access to space more difficult with his plan. They want to prevent this in order to be able to continue to work profitably. Like natural resources, access to the universe must also be open to all companies operating there. This applies to those who are currently in the business, but also to future generations.
More and more satellites and space junk
And with every additional satellite placed, with every additional piece of space junk that accumulates in near-Earth space as a result of space travel, the question of space and access to it becomes more and more important. In October 2019, according to estimates, there were around 20,000 man-made objects in orbit around the earth, including more than 2,200 active satellites.
With every space flight, parts remain up there. Some, like the satellites, are deliberately left behind and take on important functions, for example in telecommunications, weather observation or environmental remote sensing. In contrast, the space debris flies in uncontrolled orbits around the earth.
These parts can repeatedly lead to collisions with satellites and other objects. The International Space Station, for example, has to repeatedly fly evasive maneuvers in order not to collide with space junk. This involves the smallest parts, some of which are only a few millimeters in diameter. A few weeks ago it became known that an evasive maneuver by the ISS was not enough, the robot arm “Canadarm” was hit and riddled with holes. And the rule is: the larger the parts, the more severe the damage.
A fateful cascade effect
Collisions are another problem. In 2009, the Iridium 33 communications satellite crashed into a Russian reconnaissance satellite. The two missiles were torn into more than 100,000 fragments.
According to the Kessler syndrome, these fragments could also have consequences for Starlink: If a satellite or other missile is destroyed, a kind of chain reaction can occur in which more and more devices are hit – slowly at first, then faster and faster could. If this cascade effect occurs, it can soon happen that such a large amount of junk is in space that space travel is simply no longer safe. The consequences for communication on earth would also be devastating.
Given the enormous number of Starlink satellites, this effect could also occur. It is certain that not all satellites will function properly and at some point the catastrophe could occur.
An international resource
“Space collisions may be a concern for many today, but they’re not the only problem,” says Suzanne Ong. Space is gigantic, but still a fairly finite resource in terms of useful orbits. Launching many satellites into wide, unrestricted orbits is therefore questionable. If the launch and operation of these satellites are poorly carried out today, it means that others who want to launch satellites later will have to bypass the already launched constellations so as not to disrupt the existing networks. “This can make access more difficult for new actors,” says Ong.
For Musk, what the FCC dictates it applies. And, as I said, it approved the launch of its satellites. However, voices are now being voiced calling for access to space to be an international resource – which should therefore also be subject to international rules. That and the pursuit of a more sensible mix of technologies in space would certainly give Starlink a different perspective.
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