[imagesource: Cliff Johnson / Clarae Martínez-Vázquez / Delve]

That image above is a composite of a number of photographs taken of strange lights streaming by in the night’s sky.

Many of those who have spotted the train of lights didn’t know what they were and immediately jumped to conclusions thinking that they were UFOs or an alien invasion.

That would be fun right about now.

But those who are aware of the real origin of the lights are less worried about interplanetary war.

That’s because the lights are from Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starlink satellites that are orbiting Earth.

This Forbes article from 2020 explains more:

Since the first launch in May 2019, SpaceX has launched about 360 of these satellites. Each weighs about 260 kilograms and is roughly the size of a flattened car, with a large solar panel that reflects sunlight.

SpaceX’s ultimate goal is to blanket the space around Earth in these satellites. They plan to operate 12,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, and potentially up to 42,000. This is known as a mega constellation.

So what you’re witnessing if you see a train of lights is the very reflective satellites being raised into orbit, which takes many months, until they are between 340 and 550 kilometres above Earth.

SpaceX’s aim is to beam high-speed internet to every single location on Earth, from London to Antarctica, accessible after paying a fee to the company who will then use the money to fund Musk’s Mars mission.

But there are experts and researchers who have found this venture worrying considering the sheer number of satellites SpaceX is launching.

SpaceX has aimed to launch roughly two batches of 60 satellites every month on the company’s own reusable Falcon 9 rockets, although that frequency has not been achieved yet.

Today there are 2 137 active satellites orbiting Earth, which SpaceX wants to increase sixfold, and possibly 21-fold, over time.

But the more satellites orbiting our planet, the more likely they are to collide and cause space junk that can further destroy other satellites and research objects in Earth’s orbit:

This could lead to a worst-case scenario where parts of Earth orbit become unusable, known as the “Kessler syndrome”, and popularized in the movie Gravity.

The other major concern is that the satellites will become so numerous that they will take over the sky’s natural beauty and confuse astronomers and other researchers trying to make sense of our Universe:

Because [the Starlink outshine 99% of all other satellites in the night sky], astronomers have reported that the satellites are hampering their ability to study the universe. The satellites can appear as bright streaks in telescope images, ruining observations of galaxies and stars.

SpaceX is set to launch another 50 Starlink internet satellites today, per Spaceflight Now, from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

This will be the second mission this week and SpaceX’s 38th launch dedicated to deploying Starlink internet satellites.

If you are interested in seeing when the satellites will be visible above your location, you can use websites like Find Starlink or this handy tool.

We see you, Elon, whether we want to or not.

Thanks, Ant.

[sources:forbes&spaceflightnow]