Yesterday , April 28 , was a big Clarence Day in blank space launches , with not one but three unlike megaconstellations receiving new satellite . Eighty - seven young satellites were launched into orbit , which order the day among the top 20 busiest for putting physical object into orbit – a listthat include multiple metre where a rocket broke apart in space , lend century of new fragments to the grow space junk problem .
The satellite launched yesterday were sentby Chinaand private American companiesSpaceX , owned by billionaire Elon Musk , andAmazon , possess by billionaire Jeff Bezos . China launched 10 planet as part of its Xingwang orbiter internet electronic connection . This is not the only Chinese megaconstellation plan ; there is also Qianfan , which hopes to invest 15,000 satellites by the project ’s ending .
SpaceX launch 50 Starlink orbiter in amount , in two launches ; the first one with 23 on board and a 2d one with 27 . A third Starlink launching with 23 satellites happened today , April 29 . Starlink plan to deploy at least 12,000 satellite , with the possibility of reaching 34,000 .
Over the last decade, the number of satellites in space has increased massively.Image Credit: IFLScience
Amazon ’s Project Kuiper also sawthe launchof a substantial issue of satellite , with 27 taking off yesterday . The destination for that megaconstellation is to have 3,236 in low - Earth orbit .
So what are the pros , bunko game , and the not - so - clear - cut topic with megaconstellations ?
The pros: Internet access everywhere
net access has become , for good or for worse , fundamental to most mass on the major planet . It is so of import to last and take part in lodge , which is look at by many an all-important public utility , making the ability to get on the cyberspace a human right hand .
This access is very unequal , and so artificial satellite internet could be a great equaliser , bringing broadband speed to places where there is no or modified high - fastness infrastructure , such as optical fiber . It can also be used by scientific missions , even possible reflex surveys that could collect data fromthe cryptic oceanand then channel it to the researchers without being on the vessels .
This , at least , is the general spiel of the power of satellite internet , but for most people , the cost of this technology is well beyond what ’s low-priced , specially in rural areas on a monthly basis .
The cons: Light pollution and a looming crisis
According to the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs ( UNOOSA ) , as of today , there are14,926 objectsin range . slimly less than half , 7,234 to be accurate , are Starlink satellites present in gloomy - Earth compass , making them by far the large group of satellites in space .
The number of satellites in arena has massively increased in the last several age . Just think that in the first four months of 2025 , there have been more satellites than in the whole of 2018 . A major concern is the brightness that these objects bring with them . Many of them reflect sunlight as they revolve the Earth . This negatively affectsadvanced astronomybut also bringslight pollutionto space that never had it before .
But theother concernis the increase in space junk and the risk that some regions of space around Earth might become out of the question to navigate . There is a possible crisis known asKessler Syndrome . Space junk collides with a orbiter that fall apart aside , creating more space junk and causing more collisions and so on , grow exponentially . The more physical object there are in outer space , the higher the risk of this becoming a reality . ( There are some proposedcountermeasures , though . )
There are way tominimize the effectsof megaconstellations , and some are being taken on board , but non - binding suggestions are playing collar - up with the deployment .
The complex: He who controls the internet controls the universe
The principle and regulations that curb space are collected in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty , and they are not set for intention in 2025 . Hence why private companies can send thou of satellites to space . If they decide that brilliant satellite and lightheaded pollution across a vulgar inheritance like the night sky are a small terms to pay off , since they are not the ones ante up it , they can do that .
With that condition in mind , even the voltage for net everywhere leads us to a complicated discourse on the wielding of superpower , such as approach to the World wide-eyed Web . In 2022 , the Iranian government blocked cyberspace access to subdue the spread of anti - government protests . Elon Musk announce that it would giveIranian citizensaccess to Starlink .
Access to Starlink was also yield to Ukraine , struggle the Russian invasion , through a contract with the United States Department of Defense . But it ’s been suggested that Musk , involved in theTrump government activity attack on Science , couldcut offUkraine from the internet service .
That has not happened , but it has shown the power that billionaires have over blank , access to it , who benefits from it , and who does n’t . outer space directly and indirectly affects our daily sprightliness , from weather forecasts to GPS and more . What happen up there does n’t stay there .
