Launching hundreds of thousands of satellites will threaten space research, scientists warn

Satellite constellations, networks of multiple satellites that can number from a few dozen to tens of thousands, are interfering with scientific research using ground-based telescopes, but now a new study looks at how they might affect space-bound telescopes like Hubble.

The Hubble Space Telescope has produced some incredibly beautiful photographs of galaxies and nebulas that we have come to marvel at, but it’s also made incredible scientific discoveries, including measuring the rate of our universe’s expansion.

But that science could be threatened if all the proposed satellite megaconstellations — groups of thousands of satellites launched by companies like SpaceX and Amazon — come to fruition.

The authors of the paper published today in Nature looked specifically at Hubble, NASA’