I’m confused because band pass filters exist. Can they not add a filter to eliminate the frequencies that starlink uses?
Also, the starlink satellites use phased array antennas, guess that wasn’t a great idea either.
That works great unless you’re specifically looking for results in those frequencies.
It’s the equivalent of trying to look for a red laser pointer dot on a wall and some jackass put red floodlights in front of you aimed at the wall.
They could just shift the frequency up and down so they can get data in those ranges. There’s advantages to them being linked together and being able to communicate with them. They could probably also Shut down those bands completely temporarily so some science can get done.
I get this is a HUGE issue, but this also isn’t this massive non accountable issue to get some science done. Just makes it harder, these embellished headlines don’t help stuff.
They cannot simply shift them. There are huge regulatory machines that would need to approve such an event. At most they could cut off using some of their band and use less of it, but that comes at the cost of customer service.
A satellite passing over your head will travel about 4,500KM from horizon to horizon (assuming low earth orbit). Turning off the radios over that span of distance would mean entire countries don’t get starlink traffic any time a radio telescope needs that band, and my suspicion is they need them often.
Honestly, we need to get more of these things off earth to continue this sort of research.
Yes, that completely destroys the information in that band. That is the point, the satellites are using these bands, overpowering what was already naturally there.
Yup. I understand and agree that it would make any work in those bands essentially meaningless.
I’m not by any means giving Elon, or anyone else, a green light to just pollute the airwaves with my comment. Simply put, he should have not done what he did. Star link is a cool concept but it should have gone through more review before being put into orbit. I suspect if that had happened, it wouldn’t have been put in orbit.
IMO, it’s kind of just space junk at this point.
The quote says “it will stop us doing science in that spectrum.”
They can filter out starlink’s frequencies. What else does that filter out? If the radio telescope uses that spectrum, they can’t filter it out and continue to do their work. As I understand, this would be all radio telescopes looking within our solar system.
Space pollution frustrates me because there’s truly nothing I can do about it. Maybe someone will democratize a laser or something to shoot down these bullshit non-science satellites, like some Johnny Pneumonic shit, or was it Escape from L.A., no, it was Congo.