Astronomers back call for review of bonkers rule that means satellite swarms fly without environment checks

Space boffins want pollution from the likes of Starlink regulated

Astronomy researchers from several US universities have joined a campaign coordinated by US Public Interest Research Group (US PIRG) to pause low Earth satellite launches and convince the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reconsider exempting swarms of small satellites from environmental review requirements.

US PIRG notes that the number of satellites in low Earth orbit has increased by a factor of 127 over the past five years, driven largely by the deployment of mega-constellations of communications satellites from SpaceX’s Starlink subsidiary.

Launching large numbers of small satellites presents potential pollution and safety risks, and spoils stargazing. With 6,000 SpaceX satellites in orbit – a number planned to reach 40,000 in a few years – and a satellite lifespan of just five years, US PIRG expects tons of satellite debris will be burned daily upon re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere. That’s in addition to the pollution caused by satellite launches, which US PIRG projects will be “equivalent to seven million diesel dump trucks circling the globe each year.”

“We don’t know the long-term effects of the huge number of proposed satellites on our ozone, climate, and environment,” argued Samantha Lawler, associate professor of astronomy at University of Regina in Saskatchewan, Canada, in a statement. “What we do know is relying on a decades-old decision to exclude 50,000 satellites from environmental review defies common sense.”