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> At the time the study was conducted, SpaceX had not yet applied its routine brightness mitigation techniques to the DTCs, such as adjusting their chassis and
by eutropia 2y ago
> At the time the study was conducted, SpaceX had not yet applied its routine brightness mitigation techniques to the DTCs, such as adjusting their chassis and solar panels to reduce the portion of spacecraft illuminated by the sun, study lead author Anthony Mallama of the IAU Centre for the Protection of Dark and Quiet Skies from Satellite Constellation Interference (IAU-CPS) told Space.com.
- DylanSp 2y agoI'm curious if SpaceX has applied those mitigation techniques yet. I could maybe understand not doing it for the initial test batch of 6 DTC satellites, but they've been continuing to launch more, and they should be taking at least some action by now, like those "routine mitigation techniques". There's apparently up to >100 DTC sats in orbit now (see [1] and [2]); I can't figure out from the study [3] exactly when the astronomers took their measurements, but it seems like they were able to see most of the DTC sats. It's not great if SpaceX is delaying their mitigations, this isn't exactly a new or unexpected problem. [1] https://www.satellitetoday.com/connectivity/2024/07/03/spacex-now-has-more-than-100-direct-to-cell-satellites-in-orbit/ https://www.satellitetoday.com/connectivity/2024/07/03/space... [2] https://www.telecoms.com/satellite/starlink-ready-for-t-mobile-us-launch-with-100-direct-to-cell-satellites https://www.telecoms.com/satellite/starlink-ready-for-t-mobi... [3] https://arxiv.org/pdf/2407.03092 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2407.03092