April 27, 2024

International Astronomical Union launches new center to fight satellite megaconstellation threat

(Image credit: T. Hansen/IAU OAE) SKAO, which measures faint radio signals coming from remote stars, worlds and galaxies, will be partly blinded in the frequency bands in which these satellites downlink their data, Federico di Vruno, SKAOs radio interference manager and a codirector of the brand-new center, informed Space.com in an earlier interview. Considering that 2019, SpaceX has actually released over 2,000 of its internet-beaming Starlink satellites, just one-sixth of its imagined first-generation constellation and a small portion of the 42,000 satellites it has approval to launch. While some of the techniques to be established by the brand-new center will focus on software application and technical mitigation options to be carried out on the side of the observatories, the astronomers likewise hope that megaconstellation operators will concur to make changes on their satellites to decrease the impact.

” By the end of the decade, more than 5,000 satellites will be above the horizon at any offered time,” Connie Walker, a scientist at NOIRLab and one of the codirectors of the new center, said in the rundown. (Image credit: T. Hansen/IAU OAE) SKAO, which measures faint radio signals coming from far-off stars, planets and galaxies, will be partly blinded in the frequency bands in which these satellites downlink their data, Federico di Vruno, SKAOs radio interference supervisor and a codirector of the new center, informed Space.com in an earlier interview. Considering that 2019, SpaceX has actually released over 2,000 of its internet-beaming Starlink satellites, just one-sixth of its pictured first-generation constellation and a small portion of the 42,000 satellites it has approval to launch. While some of the techniques to be developed by the brand-new center will focus on software and technical mitigation options to be implemented on the side of the observatories, the astronomers also hope that megaconstellation operators will agree to make changes on their satellites to minimize the impact.