BLUE
WALKER 3 SATELLITE – SCI & TECH
News: Blue Walker 3 satellite outshines
most stars in the night sky
What's
in the news?
●
An international team of scientists,
including those from Imperial College London, have published a paper in Nature
journal, detailing the impact of the prototype Blue Walker 3 satellite on
astronomy.
Key
takeaways:
●
Observations taken within weeks of its
launch showed that the satellite was among the brightest objects in the sky.
Blue
Walker 3 Satellite:
●
It is a prototype satellite, a part of a planned constellation of over a
hundred similar satellites intended to deliver mobile or broadband services
anywhere in the world.
Launched
by - AST
Space Mobile, a U.S.-based company.
Features:
●
The approximately 1.5-ton satellite will
deploy a 10-meter diameter phased array antenna, comprising numerous identical
sub-antenna modules with a total area of 64 square meters. These modules will
connect directly to standard mobile phones.
●
It was launched into low-Earth orbit and is considered as the largest commercial antenna system ever deployed in low-Earth orbit.
●
The satellite is among the brightest
objects in the sky reaching a peak comparable to that of Procyon and Achernar,
two of the brightest stars in the night sky.
●
Its remarkable brightness results from a
massive phased-array antenna, making it appear like a giant mirror reflecting
sunlight from Earth’s perspective.
Concerns:
●
Blue walker 3’s large size and bright reflective surfaces could interfere with
astronomical observations, as its light could be mistaken for stars or interfere
with the ability to detect dimmer objects.
●
The satellite’s large size could block out
a portion of the night sky, making it difficult for astronomers to observe
certain objects.
●
It actively transmits at radio frequencies that are close to bands reserved for
radio astronomy, which may hamper radio telescope observations.