50 years ago, satellites threatened astronomers’ view of the cosmos

Satellites hampering radio astronomy — Science News, October 5, 1974

Within the past, the satellites and probes launched by NASA and others successfully steer clear off conflict with the radio frequency bands reserved for radio astronomy. But now there will probably be trouble.

The trespassers are two major U.S. satellites launched in May…. When either of the satellites is on or near the road between an observer and what he wants to in sorting out about, the work is rendered not easy or very not going… radio astronomers may have the flexibleness to are living with one or two such interlopers. Twenty or a hundred may perhaps be a catastrophe for radio astronomy.

Update

The conflict between astronomers and satellites has best gotten worse. Private companies have launched thousands of new satellites since 2019 on my own, far outstripping what astronomers thought should be catastrophic within the ’70s (SN: three/12/20). As of September, there are upwards of 10,000 active satellites in Earth’s orbit, and personal companies continue to launch more (SN: Four/eight/23, p. 5).

Astronomers are worried that catastrophe is forthcoming, partly because many modern satellites emit much more radiation than during the past thought (SN: 9/30/24). Optical telescopes are also now affected: The satellites leave bright streaks across images of the night sky, making the images not easy to investigate. Efforts to mitigate the difficulty by modifying the satellites or their orbits have had mixed results (SN: 10/9/21 & 10/23/21, p. 14).