While soaking in the hot tub last night and gazing up at the sprawling canopy of stars, we spotted a pair of satellites crawling across the sky on the same path. Soon another appeared behind them. And then another. Before we were done, fifteen satellites had traced the same narrow line overhead.
We
had, quite clearly, witnessed a Starlink satellite chain being drawn into
service. Starlink satellites are launched in groups of sixty, and they
initially travel in a “chain” formation before spreading out and settling into
their own orbits.
I
think back to my boyhood, after the Soviet launch of Sputnik, when I spent
countless nights scanning the heavens before finally spotting my first
satellite drifting slowly across the Milky Way. Today, our sky is aswarm with
them. Look up for any length of time, and you’re certain to see a man-made
object crossing one of the thousands of orbits now enmeshed aloft.
It’s
not difficult to imagine that someday we’ll overcrowd the “usable” space above
us. This is a human tendency.
I’ve
posted a video of a Starlink chain crossing our busy skies.
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