Shining StarLink satellites will make space observation more difficult? Musk claims that he does not.

Placing the first group of microsatellites of the constellation of the cosmic Internet from SpaceX took place in a spectacular way, namely it has become the largest astronomical phenomenon in recent times.

Just after the wave of admiration, however, there was a wave of fears that a dozen or so thousand of such devices, flying and shining on Earth's orbit, will seriously hinder important astronomical observations carried out with the use of telescopes placed on the surface of our planet. SpaceX is not and will not be the only company that has plans and builds a constellation of the cosmic Internet.

At the moment, it is also planned by OneWeb, Amazon and several other companies. In total, in the next 10 years in space will be tens of thousands of such devices. Each microsatellite will be equipped with solar panels, thanks to which it will be able to function normally. The problem is that both its body and solar panels reflect some of the sunlight that can dazzle observers and prevent observations by ground telescopes.

Elon Musk claims, however, that nothing will happen. He has already commissioned his engineers to reduce the albedo of new microsatellites as much as possible, ie the ratio of the amount of light radiation reflected from the satellites and directed towards the Earth's surface.

Source: GeekWeek.pl/Twitter/Elon Musk
Photo: SpaceX / MaxPixel