This week, SpaceX announced a new set of measures that it’s taking to mitigate the light pollution risk posed by its swarm.
During orbit raising, and while the satellites are in their parking orbit prior to reaching their operational orbits, the solar array is the main source of light pollution. This is because the satellite is in what SpaceX calls an “open book” configuration, wherein the array is laid out flat in front of the spacecraft relative to Earth’s surface in order to reduce atmospheric drag. During this phase ... Read even more
