SpaceX’s willingness to cooperate with scientists was not enough – even after the modernisation of the Starlink satellites, they still cause many problems. Astronomers specially allocated in the programme of radio telescope LOFAR time to analyse the radiation coming from a group of 68 satellites Starlink. And it quickly became clear that in addition to signals from communication systems, they emit an impressive amount of radiation from on-board electronics.
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The 47 satellites in the constellation have been shown to radiate chaotically between 110 and 188 MHz. And that’s a problem, because the window between 150.05 and 153 MHz was specifically allocated for radio astronomy, but now it’s full of interference from Starlink satellites. The trouble is that the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) guidelines only apply to intentional emissions, so technically Starlink is not violating anything – the satellites’ active systems operate on other frequencies.
