2023-10-10 04:00:13
Late last year marked a spectacular event in the night sky with the deployment of a communications satellite’s gigantic antenna. BlueWalker 3, an innovative satellite, has extended its antenna by 64 square meters into low Earth orbit (Low Earth orbit (LEO) is an area of Earth’s orbit…) , thus becoming one of the brightest objects in the night sky, surpassed only by the Moon, Venus, Jupiter and seven stars, according to a recent study.
Artistic conception of the BlueWalker 3 satellite.
Credit: AST SpaceMobile
The Texan company AST SpaceMobile launched this prototype in September 2022 with the aim of directly connecting smartphones to orbit. This prototype, precursor of an orbital constellation of around a hundred satellites, already threatens terrestrial observations of the Universe. Universe is the set of everything that exists and the laws that govern it.).
The authors of a study published in the journal Nature collected observations of the BlueWalker 3 from professional and amateur astronomers from various countries. Through the different telescopes, BlueWalker 3 shines as bright as two of the brightest stars in the night sky: Procyon and Achernar (Alpha Eridani (α Eridani / α Eri) is the brightest star in the constellation…).
AST SpaceMobile isn’t the only company flooding low Earth orbit with satellites. Elon Musk’s Starlink is also building an internet constellation in this orbit, with plans to deploy more than 42,000 satellites. Amazon and OneWeb have similar ambitions with planned fleets of 3,236 and 648 satellites respectively.
Prototype of AST SpaceMobile’s BlueWalker 3 satellite launched in September 2022.
Credit: Michael Tzukran
These satellites reflect sunlight back to our planet, causing light trails in astronomical images and interfering with data (in satellite technologies). information (TI), data is an elementary description, often…) scientific. According to the study, satellites like BlueWalker 3 can also disrupt radio astronomy by generating additional noise, affecting protected radio astronomy bands. (Radio astronomy is a branch of astronomy dealing with the observation of the sky in the…).
BlueWalker 3 stands out for its commercial antenna, the largest ever deployed in space. In September, during observations, the satellite had a light magnitude of around +3.5, visible to the naked eye. However, since the deployment of its antenna last November, the brightness has increased by two magnitudes, says Marco Langbroek, lecturer in astrodynamics at the University. is a higher education establishment whose objective is…) technology in Delft in the Netherlands.
The study highlights not only concerns regarding BlueWalker 3 as an individual satellite, but also a worrying trend toward increasingly larger and brighter satellites. AST SpaceMobile is currently collaborating with NASA and astronomy groups to develop solutions, including potential operational interventions, to reduce the impact on astronomy.
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