Starlink satellites will be equipped with special “umbrellas”
(ORDO NEWS) — The head of SpaceX, Elon Musk, said that special “umbrellas” will be installed on the Starlink satellites so as not to interfere with astronomers’ observations of space objects.
Since 2019, astronomers are increasingly complaining about satellites glowing in the sky, which significantly interfere with observing space objects. The pictures taken by astronomers were damaged. In search of a solution to this problem, SpaseX scientists applied light-absorbing material to one of the devices, but this only partially solved the problem.
In February 2020, Russian scientists said that one-third of the images taken by astronomers were tainted by a string of Starlink satellites passing through the sky.
Elon Musk immediately reacted to this, reporting on Twitter that his scientists are working hard to solve the problem of high reflectivity of satellites, thereby reducing the loss of astronomical data. Musk believes that his satellites should have sufficient camouflage during the climb due to the change in the position of the solar battery on the body of the device.
From June, when the ninth launch of satellites will take place, all devices will be equipped with special “umbrellas”.
SpaceX recently sent another batch of 60 satellites into low-earth orbit. There are currently 420 Starlink satellites flying over Earth. These devices are designed for broadband Internet access from anywhere in the world. It is planned to launch only 42 thousand satellites, which is five times more than all countries have sent into low-earth orbit over the past 45 years.
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