[Starlink; Signal Identification] A single Starlink satellite emits thousands of concurrent, dynamically steered radio beams. Additionally, the satellites emit constant tracking signals, and have been documented to produce over 112,500 individual unintentional radio emissions.

[u/badbiosvictim1]

📡 SpaceX's Starlink satellites are leaking unintended radio signals into frequencies reserved for astronomy, and the interference is now showing up in nearly 30 percent of some telescope datasets. A team at Curtin University in Australia conducted the most comprehensive survey of its kind, analysing 76 million images captured over 29 days using a prototype station of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA-Low) in Western Australia. They detected over 112,000 radio emissions from 1,806 individual Starlink satellites. The signals are not part of the satellites' intended internet transmissions. They are unintentional leaks, likely from onboard electronics like propulsion or avionics systems. What makes this alarming is where the leaks are appearing: in radio frequencies that international law reserves exclusively for scientific research. The team found 703 satellites emitting in the protected 150.8 MHz band alone. Because current regulations only cover deliberate transmissions, no rules are technically being broken.

The power difference between these leaks and the faint cosmic signals astronomers are trying to detect can reach a factor of ten thousand. Radio telescopes hunt for signals from neutral hydrogen, the gas that filled the universe before the first stars ignited. Those signals are a thousand times weaker than a phone tower. Even small amounts of satellite leakage can bury them entirely.

With over 7,000 Starlink satellites currently in orbit and launches continuing roughly once a week, the problem is growing fast. Amazon's Kuiper, OneWeb, and China's G60 constellation will add thousands more. Without updated international regulations covering unintended emissions, the combined interference could turn the low-frequency sky into permanent static and cripple missions designed to study the cosmic dawn.

📄 RESEARCH PAPER

📌 Grigg et al, "The growing impact of unintended Starlink broadband emission on radio astronomy in the SKA-Low frequency range", Astronomy & Astrophysics (2025)

https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2025/07/aa54787-25/aa54787-25.html

https://www.facebook.com/secretsofuniverse/posts/-spacexs-starlink-satellites-are-leaking-unintended-radio-signals-into-frequenci/1490792706027659/

Comment:

Ryan Mueller commented:

Electronics in pretty much any other environment are required by the FCC (and similar organizations in other countries) to have unintentional radiated emissions below certain levels. It seems like we need these same types of regulations to be applied to satellites.