Satellite swarms could ruin most space telescope photos by late-2030s
A new NASA study warns that huge groups of satellites—like the ones powering global internet—are set to mess with images from space telescopes by reflecting sunlight and drowning out cosmic signals.
By the end of the 2030s, this interference could make it really tough for astronomers to get clear shots of the universe.
How bad will it get?
If all planned satellites go up (about 560,000), one-third of Hubble's photos and over 96% of images from newer telescopes like SPHEREx, Xuntian, and ARRAKIHS could be streaked with satellite trails—sometimes up to 92 per picture.
And if satellite numbers double, things only get worse.
Right now, there are about 15,000 satellites in orbit (more than half are Starlink).
Can we fix this?
Scientists suggest lowering satellite altitudes, tracking them better, or changing telescope paths to dodge interference.
But even with clever masking tricks to hide streaks in photos, any lost cosmic data is gone for good—so protecting our view of space is going to take some real teamwork.