Colorado photographers and scientists weigh pros, cons of growing satellite mega-constellations

This fall, 120 space researchers are urging the FCC to study satellite mega-constellations, including SpaceX's Starlink, and now Colorado scientists and night sky photographers are calling for more responsible use of satellites.

According to the Colorado Public Interest Research Foundation, in just the last five years, the number of large satellites in low earth orbit has increased 12 times with thousands more expected in the next few years.

One Buena Vista couple, Joe and Kimmie Randall, have mixed opinions on satellites. On one hand, they're frustrated as professional photographers, when satellites get in all of their photos.

"So you'll have a beautiful shot of stars, and then you have a great straight line that cuts right through the stars that show the satellites," Kimmie Randall said.

"Some of the photos have 20, 30, satellites in each shot, so that's almost not worth editing," Joe Randall added.

But the Randalls also see the benefits of those satellites every day. The pair also works in IT where they rely on those satellites, as they install SpaceX's Starlink for Coloradans.

"Because we are up in the mountains, most of the people that are getting Starlink have never had internet," Kimmie Randall said.

Joe Randall added, "it is driving the industry and, with that, there's a responsibility."

Scientists like Thomas Berger are pushing for that responsibility in space, as he works as the executive director of the Space Weather Technology Research and Education Center at the University of Colorado Boulder.

"There's great benefits, both to communications and to global environmental monitoring from things in orbit," Berger said, "but again, the more we put up there, without cleaning up the environment or figuring out how to better manage collision avoidance, the more risk there is."

And Berger explained, in the last few years we've seen more satellites sent up than ever before, adding that this year we're entering an 11-year peak in solar activity.

"We have this extremely large increase in the number of missions," Berger said. "This [data] is something that makes a scientist sit up and pay attention. I mean this, this has this has to have consequences. We have to pay attention to this."

Now, he's pushing to research how more satellites will interact with solar activity, because if there ever were major crashes, he says we could see those impacts on Earth.

"A lot of the intelligent satellites are in low earth orbit, so there's be a lot of capability that would be suddenly gone," he said.

For now, scientists like Berger continue to study those risks, and photographers like the Randalls expect to do more editing and internet installations.

"Being able to look up to the stars in space and inspiration to younger generations, what do they have to look forward to, what legacy are we leaving?" Kimmie Randall said.