By Kurtis Archer | 2025-02-18

Anyone who has seen the stars from a very rural setting understands the toll light pollution takes on the night sky.

In recent years, pollution of the night sky comes not only from the Earth's surface but from space itself. The ever-increasing number of satellites in orbit, many of them in megaconstellations, makes viewing the night sky increasingly difficult.

Nearly 80% of North Americans and 60% of Europeans are unable to see the Milky Way when they look up at night, researchers from the Light Pollution Science and Technology Institute in Italy said in a report published in Science Advances in 2016.

Images from optical telescopes often contain long lines cutting through them -- evidence that a satellite whizzed by while the footage was being captured. These satellites also create noise for radio telescopes.

The problem is such that the International Astronomical Union in 2022 created the Center for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference in an effort to combat the issue.

The group is committed to working with space industry leaders like SpaceX, amateur astronomers, Indigenous groups and scientists everywhere to protect the night sky.

'An unsustainable path'

Scientists have expressed serious concerns over the situation.

"I feel a little pessimistic in that it's billion-dollar industry versus science," Victoria Kaspi, astrophysicist at McGill University in Montreal, told CBC News in a report published last October 3.

"To me, it feels like, really, the only way to manage this would be through public opinion, if there was a groundswell of appreciation for this light pollution."

Research scientist Meredith Rawls at the University of Washington's astronomy department expressed concerns about a lack of solutions moving forward.

"[It's like] trying to look through like a dirty windshield to do your science, and there's just all this stuff everywhere," she told CBC News in the same report.

"I think that we're just on an unsustainable path right now…. International co-ordination is not a priority on anyone's radar right now, and it's more like a kind of a Wild West-based race situation."

Historically, astronomy has driven technological innovation and scientific discoveries.

If observatories begin struggling to capture data because of light pollution and interference from satellites, there could be many economic consequences as a result.

For example, the scientific basis for the technologies that dominate commerce and power politics on Earth -- including GPS, ballistic missiles, electronic communications, nuclear and thermonuclear weapons, etc. -- stems from astronomical research.

Sky pollution could slow down astronomy as a research pipeline, and there could be countless unknown long-term economic consequences because of it.

Other industries that could suffer include weather prediction systems -- which are essential for keeping communities informed about natural disasters, dark sky tourism -- local economies in rural areas would suffer from decreased stargazing abilities, satellite operations -- constantly creating and updating collision avoidance systems require time and money, and more.

Commercializing the night sky

The potential for space advertising threatens to worsen the situation, astronomers say.

While advertising in the night sky is illegal in the United States, astronomers are worried about the commercial incentives for doing so in other nations.

Russian company Avant Space launched a satellite last April to test technology for shaping company logos in space with lasers.

The American Astronomical Society (AAS) has called for such types of space advertising to come under a global ban enforced with international treaties.

The AAS website states that in order for humanity to continue developing scientific advancements, there must be an unobstructed view of the night sky.

Satellite constellations threaten this essential view, and advertising in space would be disastrous for observing the night sky, according to the AAS.

The AAS also makes the case that such activities should be considered illegal under the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 and need to be officially recognized as such.

"It is the position of the American Astronomical Society that obtrusive space advertising should be prohibited by appropriate international convention, treaty or law," the AAS Board of Trustees said in a statement published last October.

Commercializing the night sky as an advertising landscape would be a very serious threat to astronomical research, it said.

International ban 'critical'

"The US federal ban on obtrusive space advertising is a critical bulwark against an insidious fouling of the natural sky by private interests," said astronomer and AAS member James Lowenthal.

"That ban recognizes that the sky belongs to everyone, and must be protected for all humans now and in the future," he told Gizmodo in emailed remarks published January 30.

"But the ban applies only to US launches; other countries could approve launches of 'space billboards' from their soil that would be visible from around the world," he said. "That's why an international ban is critical."

Previously there were just a few major players in space, all regulated at the government level -- including the US space agency NASA, Europe's ESA, China's CNSA, Russia's Roscosmos and India's ISRO, Lowenthal noted.

"Now there are hundreds or thousands of private space companies vying for a piece of the space pie," he said. "Controlling and communicating with them is different and more complicated than with national governments. They have different interests, different cultures, different goals, different modes of operating than governments."

"And they may have very strong interests in advertising, including in space," he added.

"For humans at large, the loss of the naturally dark, pristine sky to space billboards would be a profound and devastating one," Lowenthal concluded.

"The night sky is a source of solace, mystery, awe and inspiration for countless millions. It connects us to our ancestors, history and culture. No private company has the moral right to jeopardize any of that."