The American space agency NASA is concerned about the plans of the space company SpaceX of Elon Musk to orbit tens of thousands of satellites.
With the so-called Starlink network, Musk wants to offer internet connections worldwide in the future, NASA fears that this could have consequences for its own missions.
NASA reports that about 25,000 objects in orbit are currently being tracked; more than 6,000 of these objects are located up to 600 kilometres from the Earth’s surface. SpaceX’s plans would “double the number of objects tracked and fivefold the number of objects less than 600 kilometres away,” the space agency said.
For now, Musk’s company has permission from the US authorities to put about 12,000 satellites into orbit. SpaceX has also requested approval to launch an additional 30,000 satellites.
NASA reports that it is “concerned about the implications for scientific and human spaceflight.”
Renowned astrophysicist, Jonathan McDowell of Harvard University, explains that many satellites could cause problems. “It may be wise to gain experience with the thousands of satellites currently in orbit before we can scale up to tens of thousands of objects,” McDowell said.
There are currently about 1,500 Starlink satellites in orbit. About 40 more were lost in recent weeks after being caught in a so-called geomagnetic storm shortly after launch at the edge of the atmosphere.