Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if some starlink launches included secret satellites. Hide your top secret launches in plain sight with a few dozen similarly sized legit starlink satellites.
They’re already sort of doing that with Starshield satellites.
SpaceX’s Starshield satellites were also the focus of attention in the last month when during the Starlink Group 7-16 mission, the company only launched 20 Starlink satellites despite having previously announced 22 were launching onboard.
US government satellite tracking data later identified the extra two satellites onboard as USA 350 and USA 351 and therefore were classified. It is highly likely that these two spacecraft are Starshield satellites, SpaceX’s satellites for national security missions based on the Starlink satellite bus.
The only issue is for which side will they spy
This is the best summary I could come up with:
SpaceX is reportedly working with at least one major US defense contractor, Northrop Grumman, on a constellation of spy satellites for the National Reconnaissance Office.
According to Reuters, development of the network of hundreds of spy satellites by SpaceX is being coordinated with multiple contractors to avoid putting too much control of a highly sensitive intelligence program in the hands of one company.
“It is in the government’s interest to not be totally invested in one company run by one person,” one of the news agency’s sources said, most likely referring to SpaceX founder Elon Musk.
The news agency first disclosed the existence of SpaceX’s contract with the National Reconnaissance Office, which is responsible for operating US spy satellites, in March.
This spysat constellation is considered to be “proliferated” because there will be swarms of satellites launched into low-Earth orbit to provide imaging and other capabilities, and these should be less vulnerable to enemy attack because of their large numbers.
More than a decade later, SpaceX launched the “Zuma” satellite, an ultra-expensive classified spacecraft valued in excess of $3 billion and built by Northrop for the National Reconnaissance Office.
The original article contains 614 words, the summary contains 189 words. Saved 69%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Poor astronomers can’t even enjoy the stars anymore. What a fucked up world.
The newer Starlink satellites have visors to reduce their brightness.
Reduced launch costs will also allow for the creation of bigger, better, and cheaper space telescopes.
They’re still bright.
Reduced launch cost just means more junk is going to go up. Bigger, better, cheaper telescopes, but also bigger, brighter, cheaper satellites.
I can’t use a space telescope from my back porch
No, but when there are lots of them you might be able to rent one to use from your desktop computer. I know I’d throw down occasionally to get time on a space telescope.
