A new agreement was signed by SpaceX and US National Science Foundation (NSF) to stop SpaceX’s Starlink from interfering with astronomy, Teslarati reported.
This became an issue because astronomers have long criticized SpaceX for the Starlink satellites’ brightness.
Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, declared in 2019 that his company would make sure Starlink would not significantly impact astronomical discoveries. He tweeted, “We care a great lot about science.”
The NSF and SpaceX agreement
Earlier the NSF and SpaceX collaborated to reduce any interference from its satellite transmission.
To guarantee that the Starlink satellite network complies with international standards for radio astronomy protection for the 10.6–10.7 GHz band, the organizations finalized a coordination agreement in 2019.
The NSF established a new coordination agreement with SpaceX in 2022 as the parties continue to look into measures to safeguard ground-based astronomy.
We are setting the stage for a successful partnership between commercial and public endeavors that allow important science research to flourish alongside satellite communication.
Sethuraman Panchanathan, NSF Director
SpaceX’s commitments to NSF
As part of the new agreement, SpaceX commits to the following:
- Carry out the recommendations made by numerous organizations, including the NOIRLab of the NSF
- Keep working to make physical design adjustments that would lower the optical brightness of their satellites to 7th visual magnitude or fainter
- Created particular mitigations for its second-generation satellite
- Analyze and study the effects of astronomical facility lasers on its satellites
The Laser Clearinghouse reduced the coordination requirements for these lasers as a result of that analysis, according to the NSF. When Starlink satellites pass nearby, observatories won’t need to turn off their laser guides.
Additionally, to minimize detrimental effects on observatories, SpaceX and the NSF’s NOIRLab are organizing a workshop to define best practices guidelines and suggest procedures for interactions between satellite operators and the Laser Clearinghouse.
- Work with radio astronomy facilities to stop Starlink satellites from transmitting communications when observers are making observations
To ensure that radio astronomy observations won’t be impacted, SpaceX and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) of the NSF have completed several field tests and have further testing planned.
Moreover, due to the strong demand for satellite internet in formerly underserved or unserved locations, the NSF’s NRAO also started a pilot experiment to examine the effects of SpaceX user terminals next to the Very Large Array (VLA), Teslarati reported.
- Collaborating with NSF as new concerns and interference are raised by the astronomy community
- Coordinate with the NSF’s Office of Polar Programs
This is to make an effort to reduce SpaceX’s negative effects on isolated polar radio astronomy locations.
