What are satellite constellations?

A satellite constellation is a group of artificial satellites working together as a system. Unlike a single satellite, a constellation can provide permanent global or near-global coverage, such that at any time everywhere on Earth at least one satellite is visible. Satellites are typically placed in sets of complementary orbital planes and connect to globally distributed ground stations. They may also use inter-satellite communication.

Wikipedia

Satellite constellations are being launched to provide internet services globally, especially to remote and underserved areas where setting up existing internet architecture proves to be a major challenge. SpaceX has launched around 6426 satellites that are currently orbiting the Earth and providing internet access to many locations throughout the planet. These satellites are set to revolve around the Earth in the Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) and if Starlink's current plans are to be taken as blueprints for future projects, a satellite in these constellations has a lifespan of about 5 years, after which it will be dropped from the orbit and steered towards Earth, burning up in the atmosphere without leaving any space junk behind.

Who's building them and why?

Currently, Starlink is the leader in the field of satellite constellations. This leadership and potential to earn huge profits in the near future has led other private actors like Amazon to join this venture. While the USA relies on private actors to innovate and provide the services to the government and the public, the EU has a more balanced approach, and China goes even further in the partnership and allows the government more control compared to the private sector. The EU plans to launch its own constellation with private partnership and member-state contributions. China plans to create its own government led satellite constellation system to rival that of the US companies' and EU's because they do not want to rely on other countries or private companies for transmission of information. Satellite constellations will be involved in heavy information exchange, including information related to a country's military and security sector, and countries see it as a security vulnerability to have this information in the hands of private actors who are not answerable to them.

Benefits

Profts aren't the only thing driving this industry forward. Satellite constellations have proven successful in connecting remote, disconnected areas with the rest of the world. There are places in the world where terrestrial networks cannot be constructed, and satellite Internet becomes a great way for these places to get the much-needed Internet access. In 2024, Internet is a necessity rather than an optional commodity. It is crucial to get everyone on the planet the services they deserve. The internet is a source of education, income and world news, all of which are highly valuable.

Starlink has also proven extremely effective in regions where emergency services are needed due to natural or man-made disasters. Starlink deployment to Ukraine after Russia's invasion proved crucial in enabling the Ukranian military to defend against the Russian forces. This was also an extremely successful publicity for Starlink and a real-world test of its capabilities. The hurricane Helene of 2024 left a lot of damage in its wake after hitting the Southeastern parts United States. Starlink terminals were deployed to help the survivors and emergency response officials get online and communicate with each other to enable rescue and repair efforts.

A Multifaceted Look at Starlink Performance | Proceedings of the ACM Web Conference 2024 - This research paper conducted a thorough study comparing Starlink satellite services with available terrestrial networks in different parts of the world. Starlink lagged behind some traditional ISPs in regions that were optimum for their operation, but Starlink performed on par or better in regions where the terrestrial network coverage is subpar. Starlink also performed better in remote areas where terrestrial network cannot reach, and cell connectivity is the only way for people to access the internet. Even in regions where Starlink performed worse than the terrestrial networks, the services can be improved by installing more local Starlink infrastructure because currently there are a lot of places in the world where the Starlink connectivity takes place using physical terminals placed far away from the region.

There is no doubt that better internet connectivity improves quality of life and makes the world a little fairer in terms of opportunities and privileges. The Internet has its drawbacks and negative impacts, but those are out of the scope of this article. Satellite constellations make internet connections more convenient by reducing the need to lay long wires and ground infrastructure in areas that do not permit it architecturally.

Concerns

Astronomy

This article, Unintended electromagnetic radiation from Starlink satellites detected with LOFAR between 110 and 188 MHz | Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A) (aanda.org), details how artificial satellites result in unintended electromagnetic radiation (UEMR) (UEMR is a term coined for the purpose of this research paper and is not an official term defined by the Radio Regulations). Radio telescopes are affected by electromagnetic radiations, thus making radio-astronomy tougher. Radio telescopes receive UEMR from terrestrial sources as well but in very minute quantities. The UEMR is currently a non-issue since the number of satellites in orbit isn't large enough to come into the direct pathway of telescopes and in turn cause any hindrance in their readings and the radiations from terrestrial objects can be blocked by placing the telescope in a shielded zone. But simulations run by the researchers suggest that a larger number of satellites in the LEO can result in an aggregate UEMR that is capable of affecting telescopes through their sidelobes, that is, the UEMR will cause problems even when the satellites are not in the direct path of the telescope. Since these are just simulations, we will not know the true effect of these satellites until they are launched and are orbiting the Earth. Although, when the researchers captured the radiations from a small subset of the currently active Starlink satellites to run in the simulation, they found out that even the weak detections exceeded the suggested limits, thus worrying them of future prospects when a greater number of these satellites exist in the orbit. Radio astronomy is a costly setup, and it collects fundamental data that might only prove useful after some years, thus erroneous readings will lead to monetary loss as well as significant gaps in available data for future research and experimentation.

Even for non-radio ground-based astronomy, Starlink satellites are already affecting the experience, and readjustments have to be made to minimize the hindrance, as highlighted in Photometric characterization and trajectory accuracy of Starlink satellites: implications for ground-based astronomical surveys | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society | Oxford Academic (oup.com). For hobbyists and astronomy enthusiasts, the issue will grow larger with a greater number of satellites in the orbit coming into their view. Currently, this paper suggests a shutter closure time of 10s to avoid any Starlink satellites in their captured images. A Longer shutter time allows one to capture more light (but can also cause streaking), thus capturing a higher number of bright space objects.

Environmental Concerns

Early research shows that satellite constellations will leave a higher carbon footprint due to their frequent rocket launches.

"Researchers in the U.S. and U.K. calculated a significant carbon footprint for Internet service-providing satellite constellations launched by U.S. spacecraft company SpaceX, satellite operator Eutelsat, and e-commerce giant Amazon.

The researchers found each constellation's emissions are potentially 14 to 21 times higher per online subscriber than those produced by land-based mobile Internet, when factoring in carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide emissions from rocket launches.

They also determined this footprint could grow to 91 times that of land-based Internet when incorporating additional rocket-launch particles like black carbon, aluminum oxide, and water vapor exhaust.

SpaceX's Starlink network generated the smallest carbon footprint, at 31 times that of land-based Internet."

Starlink Carbon Footprint Up to 30 Times Size of Land-Based Internet | News | Communications of the ACM

These satellites also contribute to space junk, they add more carbon to the atmosphere on launch and they might contribute to even more environmental issues when they re-enter the atmosphere and release aluminum while burning, as mentioned in this wonderfully detailed article. These satellites can also accidentally collide with other satellites especially when the space becomes more crowded (source) which can lead to widespread network disruptions and space junk which in turn can be highly damaging to all the other satellites in orbit and might even block access to the higher orbits.

Privatization

Although Starlink receives a lot of praise for its deployment to Ukraine to help Ukraine defend against Russia, SpaceX allegedly tried to steer the conflict in favor of the interests of Elon Musk, SpaceX's CEO. The terminals on Russian occupied territory were jammed and SpaceX announced that it will not allow Ukraine to use Starlink for offensive purposes such as drone strikes. In the previous year, Elon Musk had proposed a "peace plan" which aligned very closely with Russia's proposed conditions to end the war. People also give credit to Elon Musk for providing Ukraine with internet on his own expense but that doesn't seem to be true either, allegedly. Many member states of the European Union and the government of United States of America contributed towards the necessary equipment and funding. When Elon Musk threatened to pull out of Ukraine because of fears that he won't be able to fund the operation alone anymore (which he wasn't) and demanded the US government to pay for it, the United States government and Starlink allegedly reached a deal and Elon tweeted that he will continue supporting Ukraine, still suggesting that he was incurring huge losses, as mentioned in Private infrastructure in geopolitical conflicts: the case of Starlink and the war in Ukraine - Joscha Abels, 2024 (sagepub.com). I have detailed all of this just to highlight the fact that we should always remember that private entities are there to make profit. They will exploit if profits are possible, even to the extent of doing irreparable damage to the planet and they will not hesitate to take away crucial support if losses are incurred. This paper is an amazing study of geopolitics and the role of private actors in the global geopolitics' scene, both in the state that they originated from and the states where they are providing their services.

Similarly, Elon Musk's offer of Starlink satellites to Hurrican Helene survivors was promised to be a free 30 day service but it was later found out that anyone who wanted to avail the service would still have to pay a base price of $400 and Starlink also automatically enrolled them in a $120 per month auto-pay plan after the free service ended, as detailed in Elon Musk's 'Free' Starlink for Hurricane Helene Victims Will Cost at Least $400 (gizmodo.com). I am only mentioning this here because earlier in this article, emergency relief was mentioned as a sector in which satellite internet can be immensely helpful. Upon further investigation, it was also revealed that Starlink would not be available to anyone who's address wasn't accessible by a UPS truck (as was a case for a lot of survivors since the hurricane had left debris everywhere), and even for the people it was being delivered, it would take at least 2-3 weeks which was also the estimated time to get the cell and broadband services back up, thus making a negligible difference in the relief efforts. Although, I have reasons to believe that these services will become better once he satellite constellations are properly established and running optimally.

Satellite constellations will also be used for military gains and will become an important part of surveillance and warfare, a part which most people on Earth would be against but will be done by every nation's leader anyways. There are reports that Starlink is building spy satellites for the US military, as mentioned in Private infrastructure in geopolitical conflicts: the case of Starlink and the war in Ukraine - Joscha Abels, 2024 (sagepub.com).

There are a lot of western actors in the equation compared to only one Eastern actor that has currently shown interest and has the facilities to make it happen, that actor being China (there are reports that Taiwan is also interested in this project). Will this lead to a more one-sided euro-centric approach towards internet technologies? If AI systems are to be taken as a case study, then the answer might be yes. We have uncovered a lot of western and male bias in AI but given how AI technology relies heavily on datasets (which are more populated with western and male features), the bias in hindsight seems quite predicable from the beginning. Furthermore, it is not accurate to compare AI to Internet services since these two technologies work very differently and serve very different purposes, but we cannot simply dismiss the huge bias technology has had and how the western world has proliferated while Africa and the east have been exploited.

Private infrastructure in geopolitical conflicts: the case of Starlink and the war in Ukraine - Joscha Abels, 2024 (sagepub.com) details how countries like the United States rely on private infrastructure and co-opt them, thus essentially making themselves reliant on these companies for basic infrastructure which gives private companies leverage and real power over how policies are made, making regulation a much harder job than it needs to be. As mentioned in this paper, "There are currently no international agency or space law that requires a spacecraft to comply to a certain EMC standard."

Solution

Regulation is highly important to make sure that these satellites do not affect astronomy projects, the environment, other satellites and do not cause overcrowding of space. Private actors will of course be against regulation because it makes testing more rigorous and introduces quality control to ensure things don't spin out of control. The regulations are nevertheless there to protect us and our environment, and we should welcome an unbiased effort to create regulations that are legally binding.

Ever since the first human being looked up, the sky has remained relatively unchanged. When we look at the stars and see a constellation that our ancestors saw thousands of years ago, it forms a strange connection between our present and our past. It is a weird feeling when you realize that the night sky seen by you, Galileo and Socrates are essentially the same. Even now when you buy a telescope and point it towards a faraway star, you feel exhilarated and are reminded of your place in the vast cosmos. On the other hand, I believe that this type of thinking must have also crossed some people's minds when they first heard about airplanes being invented and commercialized. They did come with a huge environmental burden and fueled climate change massively, but we also cannot imagine living without them anymore as they helped with globalization and international trade and travel. Perhaps we can learn our lessons from the commercialization of airplanes and make more rigorous standards for satellite constellations.

This is not to say the private actors cannot being good in the world, but more so to remind everyone that their motive is profit and goodwill comes pretty further down in the list of priorities. The onus is more so on the governments throughout the world to make sure that they are working in the interest of the people who elected them, and that they make decisions that are rooted in the intent for common good. The governments should set reasonable regulations and make sure that private actors are abiding by these regulations to keep the public and the planet safe from exploitation and degradation.

Conclusion

There are obvious benefits to satellite constellations, and I do not have the right to deny underserved areas from accessing the Internet and enjoying its various privileges. Since I consider internet access to be a necessary tool in attaining a higher quality of life, I think we should fund and build more systems that can get more people into our online networks. These constellations solve the issue, albeit creating newer problems or amplifying older ones. We can look into more terrestrial and ground-based approaches towards getting more people online but with SpaceX's foray into the satellite industry, it is too late to look for alternatives. The next best thing to do is create regulations, standards and legislations for every constellation to abide by. If past commercialization and technological advancements have taught us anything, it is that if left unregulated, these industries lead to exploitation and environmental disasters. International bodies need to move quickly and start before satellite constellations become so enormous that regulations are playing catchup and doing harm-reduction rather than harm-prevention. We cannot always look back at preventable problems and shrug our shoulders while regretting how we could have listened to valid criticism and taken a better direction.

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