Starlink Is Destroying Radio Astronomy – The Cosmic Crisis We Refuse to Face
Hello everyone. Today we’re taking a long hard look at how SpaceX’s Starlink satellites – the so-called saviors of rural broadband – are basically griefing some of the most ambitious radio astronomy projects on Earth. Imagine trying to prepare for the ultimate raid boss, the Epoch of Reionization, and some over-leveled wanderer in power armor storms into your lobby firing off static just because they can. That, my friends, is the state of SKA-Low’s low-frequency science thanks to a swarm of shiny little orbital bricks beaming “oops” signals across the supposedly sacred bands of radio astronomy.
A Mega-Constellation Problem Nobody Asked For
Since 2019, LEO (Low Earth Orbit) has gone from a mostly empty PvE zone to a bustling MMORPG hub for mega-constellations. SpaceX dominates this stage with Starlink, and lest you think that’s just normal service, they’ve managed to pollute not only the visual night sky but protected radio frequencies as well. The villains in this play aren’t even broadcasting in official downlink channels – no, this is the glorious world of Unintentional Electromagnetic Radiation (UEMR). Think of it as cosmic flatulence from satellite onboard electronics. And since the International Telecommunications Union couldn’t be bothered to regulate UEMR, it’s open season in the very frequencies radio astronomers keep for science.
The SKA-Low’s Ears Are Ringing
The paper in question uses EDA2, an SKA-Low pathfinder telescope in the remote outback of Western Australia, to measure this mess. And the findings? Out of 29 separate 24-hour observation marathons across multiple protected and science-critical bands, they clocked 112,534 identifications of Starlink satellites, representing 1,806 unique craft – that’s 28% of the total swarm at observation time. Even with detection stricter than an airport security queue, nearly a third still slipped through. At some frequencies, almost one in three images had a Starlink signature.
This isn’t small perturbation stuff. They estimated a lower limit of 93 Jy per beam for Starlink emissions in frequency-averaged observations. Considering an EoR observation can be derailed with a microscopic 1 mJy interference, we’re talking hundreds of thousands of times too loud. If you were doing surgery, this would be the equivalent of having someone rev a chainsaw next to your ear. As a doctor, I’d call it “catastrophic patient outcome.”
Meet the Culprit Models
Most detections were from the v2-mini Direct-to-Cell monsters – 175 of them, making up 71% of their player base. These don’t just talk to ground stations; they beam directly to your phone like cosmic pickpockets. Bigger, meaner, and louder than previous models, and far more disruptive. There were also oddball cases like four satellites picking up and reflecting FM radio from a city 300 km away, or one craft emitting exactly at 100.00 MHz… for reasons currently unexplained. Place your bets – avionics testing, alien handshake, or someone at mission control accidentally leaving the aux cable in?
Mitigation and the Paper-Tiger of Policy
There is literally no UEMR regulation in current ITU standards. Nothing. Zilch. It’s an unpatched exploit in the cosmic spectrum. Astronomers are scrambling mitigation tactics, such as persuading Starlink to temporarily turn off downlinks in telescope line-of-sight. International collaborations like the CPS (Center for the Protection of the SKA) have spawned, pooling resources to coordinate observations and work with policymakers. It’s an MMO guild trying to impose fair play rules while the map is being overrun by glitching NPCs.
Why This Matters
Sky watchers, this isn’t just about astronomers complaining. The SKA-Low is supposed to probe some of the deepest cosmic history – the Dark Ages of the Universe, the Epoch of Reionization – high-score physics content you just can’t grind anywhere else. If UEMR drowns that out, science loses billions in sunk costs and humanity loses priceless chunks of its cosmic playthrough log. And for what? So another YouTuber in the woods can stream 4K without buffering.
Final Verdict
Starlink’s unintentional emissions are like a speedrunner blowing past your carefully constructed campaign, triggering all the traps, and sprinting off with your loot. The technology’s potential is undeniable, but its side effects on sensitive radio astronomy are being brushed under the carpet. Until international regulation actually recognizes and addresses UEMR, SKA-Low and other low-frequency observatories are essentially fighting bosses while someone deletes textures in real time.
My verdict? This is bad – staggeringly bad – and unless regulatory bodies stop acting like AFK moderators, the noise will keep escalating. The SKA-Low deserves better protection than a ‘we’ll see’ from spectrum authorities.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is entirely my opinion.
Article source: Nearly 1 in 3 Starlink satellites detected within the SKA-Low frequency band, https://astrobites.org/2025/08/12/starlink-ska-low/
