Occasionally being mistaken for UFOs isn’t the only way Starlink is impacting those hopeful for the discovery of extraterrestrial life, according to scientists with the SETI Institute who say the satellites can also interfere with the signals it monitors in its search for possible ET communications.
The ever-expanding network of SpaceX Starlink satellites surrounding the Earth engages in direct-to-cell signal transmissions that the SETI Institute’s Allen Telescope Array inadvertently picks up, heavily degrading radio frequency observations.
However, a new collaboration between the two organizations seeks to remedy the potential for signal contamination. Combining their efforts, the SETI Institute and Starlink aim to preserve the integrity of radio astronomy, much like Starlink’s previous partnership with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, which utilized real-time data sharing to facilitate mitigation techniques.
The Allen Telescope Array
“The SETI Institute is at the forefront of developing solutions that allow for the continued exploration of the cosmos while accommodating the rapid evolution of satellite communications,” said Dr. David DeBoer, an Allen Telescope Array researcher.
The Allen Telescope Array resides in the remote Shasta County, California, nearly 300 miles from San Francisco. Allen began operations in 2007, over a decade before the first Starlink satellite was launched, but it’s now the latest focus center in efforts for the two cosmic endeavors to coexist side by side.
As the only telescope ever designed and built specifically to look for extraterrestrial life, the Allen Telescope Array has also been employed for functions beyond the search for ET signals, including monitoring fast radio bursts and pulsars. Unfortunately, the high sensitivity, which makes the telescope an excellent research tool, also leaves it susceptible to interference from satellite communications.
Protecting Radio Astronomy from Starlink
Signal saturation occurs when a satellite’s orbit brings it over the top of a radio observatory, filling the highly sensitive receivers with enough noise to effectively make any observations meaningless for the duration of the passover. With over 7,000 individual satellites in orbit, Starlink’s transmission of cell and text data on frequencies that the Allen Telescope Array can detect presents a major issue for SETI, potentially hampering data collection.
SpaceX previously partnered with the US National Science Foundation to understand and mitigate the interference issues. Those solutions are now being implemented, with SETI’s Allen Telescope Array as one of the first sites to utilize the new techniques through its new Starlink partnership. The changes have proven effective in minimizing disruptions to both Starlink service and telescope observations by targeting single satellites with brief interventions lasting only seconds.
Radio Zones
With its ongoing network expansion, SpaceX is working to minimize the radio frequency spectrum congestion it generates. The work done at the Allen Telescope Array is a major step in the development of groundbreaking spectrum management techniques.
When making optical observations of the night sky from Earth, light pollution is a major concern, as local ambient light drowns out views of the distant cosmos. To combat a radio equivalent of this issue, radio-quiet zones have been established on Earth, such as the National Radio Quiet Zone in West Virginia, located around the Green Bank Observatory. Unfortunately, the ever-increasing satellite traffic has led to space signals entering these zones from above.
One of the most significant developments out of the Allen Telescope Array research is a flexible frequency allocation concept called “radio dynamic zones,” which will help in allowing scientific and commercial space endeavors to avoid conflicts, at last preserving radio telescopes from interference from above.
Fundamentally, DeBoer and his colleagues believe the new collaboration could mark an important next step toward instilling harmony between the efforts of astronomers and other scientists, and the advancements in technology that occasionally come into conflict with their work.
“Our collaboration with SpaceX is an important step in demonstrating that scientific discovery and technological progress can go hand in hand with the right coordination,” DeBoer said.
Ryan Whalen covers science and technology for The Debrief. He holds an MA in History and a Master of Library and Information Science with a certificate in Data Science. He can be contacted at ryan@thedebrief.org, and follow him on Twitter @mdntwvlf.