"When most of us were children, and we went to a rural area with clear skies overhead at night, we were all greeted by the same familiar sight: a dark night sky, glittering with many hundreds or even thousands of stars. Depending on how dark your sky was, you could spot up to 6000 stars at once, as well as deep-sky objects, the plane of the Milky Way, and only the rare, occasional satellite streak."
"And then we entered the era of satellite megaconstellations, beginning with the launch of the first Starlink satellites. Now, nearly 7 full years later, there are over 17,000 active and defunct satellite payloads in orbit, with approximately 100 times as many satellites proposed in the coming years."
"However, as the environment around Earth becomes more crowded, the risks, the harms, and the potential for disaster all grow evermore severe, with woefully insufficient (or, sometimes, no) mitigation measures in place."
The night sky has transformed dramatically from childhood experiences of thousands of visible stars to increasingly crowded orbital space. Before 2019, approximately 2,000 active satellites existed. The launch of Starlink satellites initiated the megaconstellation era, resulting in over 17,000 active and defunct satellite payloads currently in orbit. Proposed use cases span satellite communications, direct-to-phone links, and space-based AI data centers. This orbital expansion creates growing environmental risks and potential disasters, yet mitigation strategies remain insufficient or absent. The situation presents both challenges and opportunities for addressing space pollution.
Read at Big Think
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