(ORDO NEWS) — The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has raised concerns about SpaceX‘s plan to deploy some 30,000 satellites for the Starlink system.
Elon Musk‘s SpaceX previously received permission to launch approximately 12,000 satellites to provide broadband Internet access and has requested permission for a constellation of 30,000 second-generation satellites.
“NASA has concerns about a possible significant increase in the frequency of orbital events that could have potential implications for NASA science missions and human spaceflight,” the FCC agency wrote.
NASA noted that a total of 25,000 objects are currently being tracked in orbit, and 6,100 are below 600 km.
The SpaceX expansion “will more than double the number of tracked objects in orbit and more than five times the number of objects less than 600 km away,” it said in a statement.
Astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell said: “We were concerned about the presence of so many satellites that interfere with astronomical observations…
I think we need a little more experience with several thousand active satellites before we can increase the number to tens of thousands.”
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