Starlink’s Second Generation Satellites Cause 32x More Interference: A Threat to Radio Astronomy

According to the scientists involved in the research, the radiation that the second generation Starlinks satellites cause interference is 32 times greater than that created by the first generation satellites.

History of intervention

Starlink’s oldest satellites, which currently make up the bulk of the network, were once in the crosshairs of the astronomical community when their UEMR was first discovered in a “pollution” study in 2022.

Benjamin Winkel, a scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy who contributed to the Starlink fleet analysis, says that the interference is literally “blinding” the work of the scientific community.

“Although Gen 1 satellites have, of course, gone down in the last year – so Starlink did something with them [para reduzir os vazamentos de radiação] – unfortunately, the new generation seems to be brighter again,” said Winkel.

What happens to radio telescopes?

“When we say ‘blind’, it means that your eye is letting in too much light for you to see something, it becomes saturated. That’s exactly what happens with our radio telescopes,” explained Winkel.