Starlink is Changing the Night Sky

Starlink, the brainchild of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, is a satellite internet service that promises to bring high internet speeds and fast response times to any place in the world by using a constellation of low-orbiting mass-produced satellites.

It is set to revolutionise global access to the World Wide Web, and once fully operational is said to be affordable no matter on which continent or in which country you live. Currently, satellite internet is slow and cumbersome due to the height of 35 000 km where geostationary satellites are orbiting. Sending a signal on a round trip of 70 000 km before it is received will obviously always be slower than land-based cable internet. What makes Starlink different is that its satellites orbit at an altitude of only 550 km, which (theoretically) makes response time even faster than cable internet. All the user needs to get online is to subscribe to the service and point a small satellite dish at anywhere in the sky.

The beta service is already available in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. While the internet speeds are not yet what they will eventually be, crucial lessons are being learnt to improve the service. Since the first batch of 60 Starlink satellites was launched in 2019, to date more than 1 400 satellites have been put into orbit. According to a February tweet by Musk, Starlink aims to cover most of the earth by the end of this year and the entire globe by 2022.

Why use so many satellites?

Because of the low orbits, a higher density of satellites is required for sustained connectivity. A larger number of satellites crisscrossing around the earth also allows for global coverage – even in a place like Antarctica. To achieve its goal, Starlink has applied for permission to launch 42 000 satellites. Some perspective? At the beginning of 2019, there were around 5 000 satellites in orbit.

What are the benefits of Starlink in a developing country like Namibia?

Access to affordable and fast internet and the wealth of information found on it has educational and social benefits that can have an impact on the entire community. Internet access gives access to online platforms and services such as e-banking.

In rural areas, with the help of mobile electronic devices such as tablets, children can join digital classrooms and receive a proper education. Probably the single most important benefit that a system such as Starlink would provide. Having the ability to find information on any topic with the potential to help improve and increase a range of activities, a subsistence farmer, for example, would be able to find sustainable methods of crop production that could increase and secure his family’s food supply.

Furthermore, access to the internet increases the ease of communication, locally and globally.

What about light pollution

The increase in the number of satellites reflecting light will create, and has already created, light pollution in the night sky. Imagine visiting NamibRand, the only International Dark Sky Reserve in Africa, to enjoy the spectacular clear starry sky of the Namib only to see hundreds of satellites whizzing about.

The problem lies not only with spoiling our night sky but it is already causing headaches for astronomers. They require as much darkness as possible to make their observations but the reflections of satellites are interfering. Although Starlink is researching different ways to mitigate this problem, would this even be possible with over 40 000 satellites in the sky?

And then there’s space junk

Space junk is predominantly man-made and hurtles through orbit at speeds of more than 35 000 km/h. A collision between these pieces of debris and any craft or satellite could have rather catastrophic consequences. At present there are more than 23 000 known man-made fragments larger than 10 cm out there, but we know this only because these pieces are large enough to be tracked. It is estimated that there are also roughly 500 000 fragments smaller than 10 cm in orbit. While Starlink’s satellites are able to use collision avoidance technologies they can only do this if whatever is heading towards them is trackable. Sending up thousands of satellites increases the chances of collisions substantially, which in return would increase space debris. The worst case scenario is that we can effectively trap ourselves on earth if space debris increases to an uncontrollable level.

While there are companies working on ways to clear away space junk, humanity seems incapable of learning from past mistakes. We tend to first create massive problems and then try to fix them later, but never being able to fully return anything to its original natural state. Why just not screw things up in the first place?

Starlink has the potential to change the world for good, but at what cost? Is it taking one man’s power trip too far? And it must be asked if anyone, whether an individual or a country, has the right to change the night sky for all of us. Something the citizens of this earth all share. Starlink has the potential of being another of man’s mistakes – being too eager and short-sighted while causing irreparable damage for future generations. But that’s nothing new, is it?