We are taking up too much Space

Looking up into the sky on a clear evening, one can admire many dazzling views of our solar system. Constellations and far-off planets weave a tapestry of history, connecting us to our ancestors. I often look into the sky, searching for meaning that seems to elude me in a bright and blue setting. There is a certain mystery hiding behind clouds, our familiar moon that’s lit by the sun, and stars forming ancient constellations that thousands of eyes have looked upon, navigated with and learned to give meaning to those born underneath them. While losing myself in this star-speckled deepness one cold January evening, I saw a strange formation dart across my vision. Coming out of nowhere and leaving just as fast, I had seen a perfectly formed line of what looked like stars, one following the other. I had no idea what it could be, except I knew it must be man-made.

I was told by my companion that this was Space X’s internet satellite constellation, Starlink, that flies around the Earth in a low orbit. I had witnessed the “Train” which is how the satellites are launched before they disperse to different locations around the world. I look up again and think back to my childhood years, when spotting a satellite in the night sky was a strange and wonderful occurrence. Nowadays, it seems more rare to not see a shiny imposter in your view while stargazing. So, the question remains: what do satellite constellations mean for our view? Beyond that, what other repercussions can we expect as the frequency of launches increases? 

Humans have sent up around 20,650 satellites into orbit since 1957. 13,660 are still in orbit, with about 11,000 of them still functional, according to the European Space Agency as of February 20th, 2025. Mega-constellations like Starlink and Oneweb contribute to these fast-growing numbers. More companies, like Amazon, wish to launch their own constellations to start cashing in the same way SpaceX has. There are a few problems, however, that we should be trying to get ahead of. It is only through visualisation that I managed to understand the scale of how full our low Earth orbit space is, and knowing that a private company has contributed to most of the satellites in our sky right now is incredibly hard to wrap my head around. The growing numbers of human-made space debris is a real issue scientists are getting increasingly worried about. Space debris can be satellites that are out of commission, pieces of upper stage rockets, and anything else that can be of risk if it collides with other objects in its way. The first ever accidental collision of two satellites happened in 2009, sparking the first conversation on what will happen as we add more satellites into orbit.

The early days of Elon Musk coming into space tech and making the final push needed to revolutionise the way we build rockets- to reuse instead of discard- earned him a place at the table where space exploration and off-planet science are discussed. Some argue that his position there should have been revoked after sending a car into space as a marketing stunt, but even then, Musk faced minimal legal opposition about what should and should not be allowed to exist in space. It has been seven years since that car was launched, and so much has changed for the skyscape above us now. 

Too many lights and sounds: Pollution

Light pollution is only one of the reasons regulations for such constellations need to be demanded. Astronomers have been pleading for more regulation on the amount of light pollution satellites are permitted to have for years. First, ground-based telescopes found their images increasingly infiltrated by satellite interference from even just around 1,000 satellites launched by SpaceX. In 2025, that number has been raised to nearly 7,000 satellites. There has been some success in convincing SpaceX to do something about the reflectivity of their mega-constellation after images from the Hubble space telescope were obstructed by the Starlink satellites orbiting above it. Attempts to make SpaceX satellites less reflective were made by using dark paint and visors. Yet, they have not managed to eliminate the issue, and those designs have since been abandoned. As a stargazer, it may not be a big deal, but for astronomers tracking developments in outer space, it takes a lot of time and resources to recover the images affected. And this problem is only getting worse the more launches we sit by and watch happen. 

For example, radio interference is one of the reasons space scientists feel that mega-constellations are not a sustainable addition into our orbit. For years, radio frequencies had to be lobbied for by scientists because of the fixed nature of astrophysical signals. The main goal of low Earth orbit satellites is to send down a massive amount of information which distorts radio signals we can now semi-reliably capture from beyond our orbit. There are options for mitigating the effects on ground-based radio astronomy stations, but they are about as effective as the dark paint was for the light pollution issue. The fact that more satellites keep getting approved for launch shows that quick profit over sustainable practices may once more take away the agency that we have. As people affected by decisions made by those in power, we need to demand a better and more sustainable method of improving our communication systems, especially when science tells us the situation is only getting worse.

Too much debris: the Kessler Syndrome

The more debris we have in space, the higher the probability of collisions, making even more debris. Therefore, the amount of space junk will grow at an exponential rate. This is called the Kessler Syndrome, named after Donald Kessler, a former NASA scientist who had been writing about debris in orbit since 1978. His prediction of the issues scientists would be facing could not have been more timely. Yet, the intoxicating scent of either profit or curiosity, made his research sound too far-off to matter. The similarity between the situation we are facing now and the warnings about climate change decades ago seems uncanny. Learning a lesson from the climate problem is imperative to the future of space science, exploration and monitoring objects close to Earth. So how do we plan on increasing the number of satellites when we are already seeing adverse effects? Starlink plans indicate that they project to have 42,000 satellites in orbit, and they also plan to swap out satellites every five years. 

One could say that the sceptics just need to watch these plans play out to benefit humanity. However, there are already risks which we are aware of. Aside from light and radio pollution, objects in low earth orbit pose a threat for collisions and unsafe re-entry back down to Earth. Most satellites or space debris that finds itself coming back down to Earth, burns up into dust. However, most recently, some larger pieces of SpaceX’s reusable rockets have experienced an engine failure that allowed an uncontrolled re-entry to happen, with pieces of the rocket crashing  in Poland and Ukraine. There was no communication between SpaceX and local authorities, leaving the Eastern European countries to conduct their own investigations on what those mystery objects were and where they had come from. No one was hurt, but it is evident that the more things we send up, the higher the probability that it ends up coming down. So far, we have been lucky that these incidents have not involved any casualties, yet it does show us where we might be headed if we do not try to regulate some of these massive private companies. There have been attempts to fine unsafe incidents that have happened in the last years within low Earth orbit, but I do not see it deterring future space junk to be disposed of seriously and consistently.

Too much competition: the Space Race

There are obvious benefits that we obtain from launching mega-constellations into low Earth orbit. Consumers of fast and reliable internet are overjoyed at the prospect of having good internet anytime and anywhere. It is also really important for connecting rural areas to communication networks that previously didn’t exist or were simply too unreliable to consider an asset. Yet, my first thought is that the push for “connecting” us may come at the cost of dividing us even further. The competition that seems to be rising against SpaceX is one to be reflective of. Companies like Amazon (Project Kuiper), Oneweb, Telesat, and many others are in the process of deploying their own constellations. The issue of limited capacity in low Earth orbit is incredibly sensitive and we need to be critical of the services provided by these companies. This brings me to the question: who truly profits from these services?

SpaceX has become invaluable to people of high import. Institutions like NASA or the Trump administration have been made to rely on Musk’s company for leverage against other entities. The ongoing war in Ukraine,shows us that access to these satellites is merely a fleeting kindness (that is bought through a subscription) that can be revoked at any time. Internet and communication access becomes a bargaining chip for warfare, leaving regular people at the whim of the powers above them. The Trump administration is shaking all of Europe with decisions that can only be described as aggressive business negotiations, divorced from loyalty and empathy. We, in this continent, need to keep up with such developments that concern us all. These may look like distant issues that do not affect us yet. However, the space above our Earth cannot belong to just a few people. 

We all look to the sky attempting to find answers and meaning. Indigenous communities have had the most to say about the delicate balance between helpful and exploitative. “Astro-colonialism” is a term we may hear more of in the near future, as we see Indigenous communities fight for their right to a dark night sky, full of cultural meaning. Night-sky readings have been an integral part of human existence since before recorded history. It would be a shame to see the same mistakes of colonisation be allowed to happen again, where the aim to connect rural areas ends up putting their heritage at risk. The trade-off must be considered, and as people who have a right to decide what happens to our night sky, we must be consulted and respected.

 

Podcasts on these topics: 

https://iflsciencethebigquestions.podbean.com/e/why-is-space-junk-such-a-big-deal/ 

https://culanth.org/fieldsights/astro-colonialism-conversation-with-willi-lempert

Photo: Tomás van Emden