Could the dream of a satellite telecommunications revolution become reality?
Space X’s launch of 60 Starlink satellites on May 24 that will operate at an altitude of 550 kilometers, changes Elon Musk’s project: this is no longer about business visibility, but visibility plain and simple. Dozens of people have posted photographs and videos of the convoy of 60 satellites moving across the night sky that have angered astronomers unhappy at the interference to their observations caused by these bright dots of light.
The astronomers’ problems have only just begun: Space X, which has been developing its reusable rockets for years, managing to reduce the cost of these types of launch, aims to put 12,000 such satellites in orbit in three concentric layers around the planet, 1,600 of them at 550 km, some 2,800 at 1,150 km, and a further 7,500 more just 340 km away. Starwatchers are going to have a much tougher time watching the night sky.
Starlink’s strategy behind putting so many satellites in orbit around our planet is clear: to provide global internet coverage to even the remotest areas at a much lower cost than thought possible. Starlink satellites have been designed to optimize not just cost, but their environmental impact: at the end of their lives, they use a propulsion system to exit their orbit and failing that they will simply fall to earth and be burned in the…
