Starlink Signal Leakage Threatens Radio Astronomy's Most Critical Frequencies
4 days ago
- The Square Kilometre Array Low (SKA-Low) telescope, designed to detect faint neutral hydrogen signals from the cosmic dawn, is instead picking up unintended electronic leakage from SpaceX Starlink satellites.
- Researchers detected 112,534 radio emissions from 1,806 Starlink satellites across 73–235 MHz, with signals up to 10,000 times stronger than the cosmic signals SKA-Low aims to detect.
- Starlink emissions were found inside ITU-protected radio astronomy bands, creating a regulatory gray area since current rules do not cover unintended hardware leakage.
- SpaceX has engaged constructively in the past but has not addressed low-frequency hardware leakage; engineering fixes and new regulations are needed to protect scientific observations.