A SpaceX Super Heavy booster carrying the Starship spacecraft lifts off on its 10th test flight at the company’s launch pad in Starbase, Texas, U.S., on August 26, 2025.
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Elon Musk’s new generation of Starlink satellites is raising concerns among Dutch scientists who claim the new satellites will bring fast internet worldwide and are proving to be interference for astronomers on a massive scale.

Thousands of orbiting Starlink satellites “are blinding” radio telescopes, perhaps causing damage to astronomical research, according to researchers at the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON). As these telescopes work on radio waves to examine the universe, it makes the collection of clean data much more complicated because of the interference caused by these satellites.

Starlink satellites connect remote areas with broadband internet, be it challenging conditions like in Ukraine and Yemen or the rural districts of the UK, for that matter. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport reported how tests conducted in 2022 showed that Starlink could deliver internet speeds four times faster than the average.

Scientists argue, however, that such privilege comes at an appreciable cost in terms of research.

“With LOFAR (Low Frequency Array), we have started a program to monitor unintended emission from satellites belonging to different constellations, and our observations show that the second-generation Starlink satellites emit stronger emission and do so over a larger range of radio frequencies, compared to the first-generation satellites,” says Cees Bassa from ASTRON (the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy), the lead author of the study.

According to a release by ASTRON, the analysis revealed that these newer satellites emit up to 32 times brighter unintended radio waves compared to the first generation, with levels potentially exceeding internationally regulated thresholds for interference set for intentional emissions and even more relaxed terrestrial electromagnetic compatibility standards.

“Compared to the faintest astrophysical sources that we observe with LOFAR, UEMR from Starlink satellites is 10 million times brighter. This difference is similar to the faintest stars visible to the naked eye and the brightness of the full moon. Since SpaceX is launching about 40 second-generation Starlink satellites every week, this problem is becoming increasingly worse,” adds Cees Bassa.”

“Humanity is clearly approaching an inflexion point where we need to take action to preserve our sky as a window to explore the universe from Earth. Satellite companies are not interested in producing this unintended radiation, so minimising it should also be a priority in their sustainable space policies,” says Federico Di Vruno from the SKA Observatory. “Starlink is not the only big player in LEO, but they have a chance to set the standard here,” he continues.

The researchers emphasise that while the second-generation satellites have been designed to enhance connectivity and provide communication services, the unintended radio emissions are a growing threat to the integrity of astronomical observations. As the consequences of such interference become increasingly evident, collaboration between satellite companies, regulatory agencies, and the astronomical community is essential to devise effective mitigation strategies.

Elon Musk’s Starlink has been covering the empty space above the Earth with its satellites with a plan to provide internet to the remotest corner of the planet. But a study in China has claimed that People Liberation Army’s (PLA’s) submarines equipped with laser would be able to destroy these satellites if the country’s security was at risk. According to South China Morning Post (SCMP), the study has been conducted by the scientists of PLA. It further said that such submarines will be produced in large numbers and deployed in various oceans to counter military threats to China.

The undersea vehicles will have the capability to remain submerged in water with a retractable “optoelectronic mast” coming out and firing at the target, the study further said.

The research by Wang Dan, a professor with the Naval Submarine Academy, was published last month in the Chinese-language journal, Command Control & Simulation, as per the SCMP report.

The entire project has been planned to hide the location of the attack vehicles (or submarines). Currently, missile launches are often accompanied by long trails of smoke, which can reveal the position of the attack vehicle. The team said this is too risky.

“Currently, the primary means of anti-satellite operations relies on ground-to-air missiles, but this approach has certain issues, mainly in terms of concealment,” SCMP quoted Ms Ms Wang and her colleagues as saying in the study.

“Taking the satellites launched by the Starlink programme as an example, they are numerous, densely packed and small in size, making the satellite network extremely resilient. Even if a significant number of satellites are destroyed, there are redundancies to replace them. Therefore, using missiles to attack such satellites is highly inefficient,” said the team.

“Submarine-based laser weapons can solve these issues,” the study document further mentioned.

It then detailed a step-by-step guide to attacking Starlink-like satellites.

“First, one or several submarines equipped with laser weapons are deployed to the sea area where the operation is to be conducted. They enter the target sea area according to the command instructions and wait for the satellites to come within their attack range. The time to raise the laser weapon is determined based on the previously acquired satellite overhead time,” said the study.

“When the satellite enters the attackable range, the laser weapon is raised. Due to the limitations of the submarine’s detection equipment, other forces are required to provide satellite position guidance for the submarine to attack the satellite. After the attack is completed, the submarine can submerge and wait for the next mission or return to the home port,” the researchers further said.

As of June 2024, there are 6,219 Starlink satellites in orbit, of which 6,146 are working, according to Astronomer Jonathan McDowell who tracks the constellation on his website.