Starlink will swamp some SKA frequencies

The coexistence of ground-based radio observatories and synthetic satellites in low-earth orbit requires ongoing negotiation. Although sure frequencies are protected for astronomy analysis, it’s turning into more and more obvious that the megaconstellation Starlink is emitting unintended radiation at key observational frequencies. Dylan Grigg and co-authors surveyed the looks of those satellites in observations with the Engineering Development Array 2 (EDA-2) — a prototype for the Square Kilometre Array Low (SKA-Low) — and demonstrated their ongoing emission throughout the SKA-Low observing bandwidth.

The authors performed 24-h observations at 29 distinctive frequencies and detected satellites by modelling their anticipated positions over time and assessing match high quality; a satellite tv for pc was thought of recognized if it was detected at 5 or extra distinct time steps. In whole, 1,806 distinctive satellites have been recognized, with their prevalence fee relying on frequency and peaking within the 161.7 and 170.5 MHz channels, the place satellites appeared in 30% of all photographs. The newest technology of satellite tv for pc fashions dominated detections, reflecting the speedy enlargement of the Starlink megaconstellation and their continued interference with astronomy (P. Woods. Nat. Astron. 8, 1212; 2024). The imply flux density of the emission was discovered to be 93 Jy beam⁻¹, which is 5 orders of magnitude above the noise stage required to characterize the epoch of reionization (a serious science purpose for the SKA).