You may have noticed star constellations moving across the sky after dark. However, it is just SpaceX satellites that intend to revolutionize the internet.
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During a conference with the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) Elon Musk said SpaceX is today capable of producing 120 satellites per month. A frantic pace, which could well be a problem for astronomers.
Starlink will use a network of satellites in low orbit to provide internet access to users equipped with a satellite dish which can be mounted on a house or a motorhome. Besides, a recent leak had unveiled these famous antennas as well as the beta program of the internet service. However, this idea did not receive everyone’s approval.
Indeed, it is common for astronomers to complain about these satellite constellations. These have in the past photobomb of many phenomena, such as a meteor shower, which occurred in late 2019. More recently, these are the observations of comet NEOWISE that were impacted. The horde of satellites has become a nightmare for astronauts, and over the launches, the situation will only get worse.
Elon Musk responded to these fears by promising a new system that SpaceX says would make the satellites less reflective. However, it is not clear what the impact of this system will be.
The satellite network is gradually being built
SpaceX currently has nearly 600 satellites in orbit, but aims to deploy around 12 000 in total. On the consumer side, the company has invested more than $ 70 million in the development and production of thousands of consumer terminals per month.
Starlink designed the dish system to configure itself automatically, so that the dish automatically locates the best angle to maximize throughput. During each launch, a Falcon 9 rocket deploys around 60 satellites in space. Also, SpaceX is not expected to finish its constellations for at least a few years.
Source : cNBC
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