Humans are destroying our chances of finding extraterrestrial life with a worrying surge of ‘space debris’ around Earth, experts warn

EXPERTS have predicted that the night sky will be overrun with satellites by the end of the decade, hampering astronomers’ ability to observe the stars and potentially detect extraterrestrial life.

The number of satellites orbiting the Earth has quadrupled to more than 8,000, with an additional 400,000 satellites approved for low-Earth orbit.

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SpaceX alone plans to launch 44,000 satellites for its Starlink internet constellation.

The bright streaks of light produced by satellites flying in front of telescopes have become a problem for astronomers. Internet satellites can also interfere with radio telescopes.

Scientists are already recording unpredictable movements of satellites.

On Jan 27, a close attempt in Low Earth orbit had the potential to generate a large quantity of hazardous space debris.

LeoLabsa company specializing in satellite surveillance and collision detection, discovered a near miss between two inactive Soviet objects, a missile body and a defunct spy satellite.

The two objects missed the collision by only 20 feet, with an error margin of only tens of meters.

LeoLabs almost declared the incident a “worst-case scenario” that could have resulted in thousands of additional pieces of space junk in a chain reaction.

Fortunately, the two objects managed to avoid a collision.

Tony Tyson, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, said that by 2030 the sky would be “teeming with moving satellites” and the number of visible stars would be minimal The Independent.

The Royal Astronomical Society, the UK Space Agency and the Department for Business are so concerned about the issue that they held a conference last week to discuss the need for regulation.

Robert Massey, RAS Deputy Executive Director, stated that the world is witnessing a shift in the use of space and that the prospect of hundreds of thousands of satellites in orbit by the end of the decade is becoming a reality.

He warned that detecting signals from other civilizations becomes increasingly difficult when the sky gets too cluttered and noisy.

The Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile is already facing major challenges from satellites as the Vera Rubin Telescope begins its ten-year survey next year.

Early testing has shown that 40% of the telescope’s frames are compromised during twilight hours.

Telescopes in space, like the Hubble, also suffer from oversaturation when reflecting satellites pass by.

Experts are concerned not only about the impact on astronomy, but also the potential to change the night sky forever.

Ken MacLeod, a satellite expert, has calculated that when all of the Internet constellations come online, there will be around 16,000 decaying Internet satellites at any given time.

MacLeod warned that these satellites would eventually fall out of orbit and cause “reentry fireballs.”

With an estimated 60 satellites falling each day, their brightness, which is much greater than magnitude 7 (the lowest starlight visible to the naked eye), could cause difficulties in astronomical observations.