Assessment of Brightness Mitigation Practices for Starlink Satellites
Abstract
Photometric characteristics for all models of Starlink satellites launched to date are reviewed. The Original design that lacked brightness mitigation is the most luminous. SpaceX installed a sunshade on the VisorSat model which reduced its luminosity by a factor of 3. The visor was omitted on Post-VisorSat spacecraft with laser communication which followed, but the company added a reflective layer which resulted in an intermediate brightness between Original and VisorSat. SpaceX is applying advanced brightness mitigation techniques to their Generation 2 Starlink satellites which are larger. The first of these, called Minis, are dimmer than Gen 1 Starlinks despite their greater size. Photometric observations verify that brightness mitigation efforts employed by SpaceX reduce spacecraft luminosity substantially. However, the satellites still have some negative impact on astronomical observations and the very large satellites planned for later in Gen 2 may interfere more seriously.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2309.14152,
title = {Assessment of Brightness Mitigation Practices for Starlink Satellites},
author = {Anthony Mallama and Andreas Hornig and Richard E. Cole and Scott Harrington and Jay Respler and Ron Lee and Aaron Worley},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2309.14152},
year = {2023}
}