Italian petition against Starlink satellites

The prospect of being able to combat the problem of the digital divide by connecting the most remote areas of the planet through a constellation of satellites is tempting to many. Also to Elon Musk who moved on this front with the Starlink project curated by SpaceX: the service is already active in some geographical areas and could soon arrive in Italy as well. The downside is represented by the repercussions that a similar infrastructure has on the activity of those who observe and study the sky.

Starlink in the crosshairs of an all-Italian petition

The problem is known , we wrote about it on these pages almost two years ago. The presence of a large number of satellites in orbit causes light pollution and interferes with radio-astronomical observations. Local realities such as Forum Skylive, Participatory Buiometry, Lazio Stellato, Veneto Stellato, CieloBuio and the Campo Catino Astronomical Observatory have decided to make their voices heard.

Unfortunately, in the age in which we live we are faced with a new form of light pollution, that produced by the nascent "constellations of satellites" for the global diffusion of the Internet. Projects such as Starlink currently under construction, and which already have over 900 small satellites in low earth orbit (LEO), with the expectation of launching tens of thousands in the coming years, pose a serious threat to astronomical observations, both in the visible (numerous traces left on the sensors that take photographs of celestial objects), and in radio-astronomical observations, which are prevented due to the interference that these satellites cause.



Here are the requests made with a petition hosted by Change.org which to date has collected about 750 signatures.

set a maximum ceiling on the number of artificial satellites in Earth orbit, which does not exceed some (few) thousand units; limiting the operational altitude of the "mega constellations" to an altitude not exceeding 600 km, so that the satellites "disappear" in the shadow of the Earth after sunset; limit its brightness to the eighth apparent magnitude (not visible to the naked eye); the transceiver frequencies of the "mega constellations" must not interfere with those of terrestrial radio telescopes. For its part, Starlink claims on its official website that it has developed a technology capable of minimizing this type of interference.

Musk thinks of the city of Starbase

Meanwhile Elon Musk goes straight and in a post on Twitter announces his intention to give life to the city of Starbase in Texas.

Creating the city of Starbase, Texas

- Elon Musk ( @elonmusk) March 2, 2021



The reference is almost certainly to the desire to create a complex in Cameron County, where the SpaceX launch station is already located. In an exchange on social media, he stated that "it will be bigger than Boca Chica", a municipality in the Dominican Republic that is home to over 142,000 inhabitants.

Source: CieloBuio