ELON Musk’s web of satellites makes it harder to detect dangerous near-Earth asteroids, scientists have warned.
The number of satellites orbiting Earth has soared from just a few hundred in 1986 to 10,000 today.
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Another tenfold increase is expected over the coming decade – much of it driven by Musk’s Starlink network.
Starlink is a fleet of satellites which brings internet to people with little or no signal – including troops in Ukraine.
But more than 100 astronomers have now warned against launching more “megaconstellations” of satellites.
The boffins said clogging up the Earth’s orbit with satellites could block their telescopes’ view of outer space.
Professor Robert McMillan told Space: “Artificial satellites, even those invisible to the naked eye, can obstruct astronomical observations.
“These observations help detect asteroids and understand our place in the universe.
“The potentially long-term environmental harms of deploying tens of thousands of satellites are still unclear.”
Light streaks from Starlink have dazzled a California telescope which scans the sky for exploding stars and dangerous near-Earth asteroids.
A study found that Musk’s satellites could stop the Zwicky Transient Facility picking up asteroids coming from the sun.
Around one in five snaps from the huge telescope have been affected, Scientific American reports.
Expert Przemek Mróz said: “We don’t expect Starlink satellites to affect non-twilight images.
“But if the satellite constellation of other companies goes into higher orbits, this could cause problems for non-twilight observations.”
Co-author Tom Prince said: “There is a small chance that we would miss an asteroid or another event hidden behind a satellite streak.”
Who is Elon Musk?
Here’s what you need to know…
Controversial billionaire Elon Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa in 1971.
As a 12-year-old child he taught himself computer programming and sold the code of a video game to a PC magazine for $500 (£300).
At 17, he moved to Canada to study, before gaining two degrees in physics and business at the University of Pennsylvania.
At the age of 24 he moved to California to start a Ph.D. in applied physics and material science at Stanford University – but left the programme after just two days to pursue other projects.
Now 50, he is the founder and CEO of SpaceX, co-founder, CEO and product architect of Tesla Motors, co-founder and chairman of SolarCity, co-chairman of Opan AI, co-founder of Zip2 and founder of X.com, which merged with PayPal.
He’s also working on a human brain chip project called Neuralink.
Musk’s stated aim is to reduce global warming and save humans from extinction by setting up a colony on Mars.
The billionaire inventor is also working on the world’s largest lithium-ion battery to store renewable energy.
