BlueWalker 3 satellite outshines most stars in the night sky

Subject : Science and technology

Section: Space tech

Context:

An international team of scientists, including those from Imperial College London, have published a paper in Nature journal, detailing the impact of the prototype BlueWalker 3 satellite on astronomy.

BlueWalker3 satellite:

The BlueWalker 3 is a prototype satellite, part of a satellite constellation planned by its owner AST SpaceMobile, intended to deliver mobile or broadband services anywhere in the world.
BlueWalker 3 is AST SpaceMobile’s prototype satellite and is designed to operate directly with standard, unmodified mobile devices. The spacecraft was built with an aperture of 693 square feet to establish connectivity directly with cell phones via 3GPP-standard frequencies.

Why is it a cause of concern?

Finding: Observations of the BlueWalker 3 showed it was one of the brightest objects in the night sky, outshining all but the brightest stars.
Concern:
- Potential to disrupt night sky observations by astronomers. And mitigating against the brightness is difficult beyond masking their position and losing data for that portion of the sky.
  - The night sky is a unique laboratory that allows scientists to conduct experiments that cannot be done in terrestrial laboratories.
- Because the BlueWalker 3 uses wavelengths close to those that radio telescopes observe in, the satellite could also hamper radio astronomy.