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I'm curious about the project's early designers; could they foresee the current impact of satellite constellations on earth-based observations? How might it hav

I'm curious about the project's early designers; could they foresee the current impact of satellite constellations on earth-based observations? How might it have influenced the system design and/or planned operations?

mturmon 3y ago
Good question. LSST was being studied as early as 2008, and it was highly ranked in the 2010 Astrophysics decadal survey - I just looked it up and in that 2010 survey the design was described as “relatively mature.” This was long before the Starlink issue became known, e.g. the first Starlink launch was in 2018. I worked in this area around 2008-2014 and I never heard astronomers discussing communication satellite interference, it was mostly about data volume, image processing, and automated classification. Perhaps it was being considered in the later 2010s by serious optical system engineers?
- greggsy 3y ago
  I recall reading that the interference could easily be cancelled out by professional and institutional researchers using known data on the satellite’s location. Not sure if that’s still the case several years later, or if it was just a deliberately crafted press release.
- prpl 3y ago
  It was being studied well before that. I think Tony Tyson had the design in the 90s. I know serious work started around 2003 with the creation of LSST Corporation. Funding dripped in with some stimulus aid, and then ~2014 was when much of the funding started to come in for construction. I don’t recall when the original operations date was anticipated to be, but I know they probably thought it’d be online in ~2017 in the 2000s. Before Covid, it was 2023 ish.
aragilar 3y ago
In 2001 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_C._Rubin_Observatory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_C._Rubin_Observatory lists this as the "start date")? Unlikely much could have be done about it, other than introducing regulation to block their creation.

mturmon 3y ago

Good question. LSST was being studied as early as 2008, and it was highly ranked in the 2010 Astrophysics decadal survey - I just looked it up and in that 2010 survey the design was described as “relatively mature.” This was long before the Starlink issue became known, e.g. the first Starlink launch was in 2018. I worked in this area around 2008-2014 and I never heard astronomers discussing communication satellite interference, it was mostly about data volume, image processing, and automated classification. Perhaps it was being considered in the later 2010s by serious optical system engineers?

greggsy 3y ago
I recall reading that the interference could easily be cancelled out by professional and institutional researchers using known data on the satellite’s location. Not sure if that’s still the case several years later, or if it was just a deliberately crafted press release.
prpl 3y ago
It was being studied well before that. I think Tony Tyson had the design in the 90s. I know serious work started around 2003 with the creation of LSST Corporation. Funding dripped in with some stimulus aid, and then ~2014 was when much of the funding started to come in for construction. I don’t recall when the original operations date was anticipated to be, but I know they probably thought it’d be online in ~2017 in the 2000s. Before Covid, it was 2023 ish.

aragilar 3y ago

In 2001 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_C._Rubin_Observatory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera_C._Rubin_Observatory lists this as the "start date")? Unlikely much could have be done about it, other than introducing regulation to block their creation.