Musk Starlink frequent "incursions" astronomers: will threaten space security

Recently, SpaceX, the space company established by Musk, successfully carried out the 36th Starlink launch mission, bringing the total number of Starlink satellites to more than 2,000.

As the number of starlinks grew, astronomers found that the project had seriously affected astronomical observations. An analysis of images taken by the Sky Survey Telescope between 2019 and 2021 found that the number of images affected by the star chain increased 35-fold.

In addition, when the star chain enters the near-Earth orbit, it will also pose more threats to the safety of astronauts and spacecraft. According to some data, due to the excessive number of satellites of the Starlink program, there are 2100 close contact events per week.

In particular, Space X's Starlink has approached the Chinese space station twice in 4 months, forcing the Chinese space station to reduce the chance of collision between the two sides through "emergency collision avoidance".

In 2014, Musk proposed the "Starlink" plan, which will launch 12,000 satellites into low-Earth orbit and establish and improve global Internet communication services. Subsequently, the scale of the "Starlink" expanded, and the number of satellites increased to 42,000. Astronomers believe that as more starlink satellites are launched, they expect starlink satellites to appear in every future observation map, hindering normal scientific observations.