Hours ago, SpaceX successfully launches another 60 Starlink satellites into space – taking its growing internet ‘megaconstellation’ to almost 1,000, according to Daily Mail report.
The Starlink constellation is designed to provide a low-latency, broadband internet system to meet the needs of consumers across the globe.
However, astronomers have raised concerns about the mission, and claim the satellites are so bright that they’ve affected a number of astronomical observations. In response, SpaceX has started adding a dark sunshade to some of the Starlink satellites to make them less visible in the night sky.
Meanwhile, Patricia Cooper the vice president of satellite government affairs at SpaceX, explained during a session of the 237th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society Jan. 14, that the company has taken major steps to reduce the impact of Starlink satellites on astronomy over the last year.
Also, Cooper noted that SpaceX is committed to continue to work with astronomers to mitigate the effect of Starlink, but also emphasized the benefits of the system. It’s important to keep the purpose of this disruption to astronomy.
On other hand, Observations of those satellites that have reached their final orbit, though, indicate they have an average magnitude of 6.5, said Pat Seitzer of the University of Michigan during the conference session.
