If there are advanced alien civilizations on faraway worlds staring at Earth through telescopes, they are unaware that we exist. Aside from a trace of entirely artificial CFC gases in our atmosphere, there is very little observable evidence that humans exist, or ever existed, on this planet, if viewed from afar through a telescope. Is SpaceX’s ever-expanding “mega-constellation” of Starlink satellites changing that? The Starlink satellite was one of the advancements brought about by the foundation of SpaceX. In a recent conference call discussing these satellites, Elon Musk mentioned a new feature that allows the satellites to broadcast signals to faraway worlds. What kinds of signals does it transmit? Will the signals aid in the detection of extraterrestrial life? Join us as we investigate how Elon Musk revealed that his satellites carry signals to other worlds.
SpaceX, a private spaceflight company, developed the Starlink satellite service to provide low-cost internet access to remote and rural areas throughout the world. Since 2019, SpaceX has launched Starlink satellites, and as of November 2022, there are 3,271 Starlink satellites in orbit, 3,236 of which are operational and floating in low-Earth orbit. Musk intends to launch over 40,000 Starlink satellites by the end of this decade, which would improve internet connectivity in all parts of the world. Each current Starlink satellite weighs 573 pounds (260 kilograms) and is roughly the size of a table. Rather than sending internet data via electric cables, which must be physically laid down to reach remote locations, satellite internet operates by beaming information through space, where it travels 47% faster than fiber-optic cable. Current satellite internet uses enormous spacecraft that orbit 22,236 miles (35,786 kilometers) above a specific location on Earth. However, there are often large time delays in sending and receiving data at that distance. By being closer to our planet and networking together, Starlink’s satellites are meant to carry large amounts of information rapidly to any point on Earth, even over the oceans and in extremely hard-to-reach places where fiber-optic cables would be expensive to lay down.
