Spacex's Starshield Satellites Are Reportedly Transmitting Signals On Unauthorized Frequencies

SpaceX whitethorn beryllium violating world telecommunication standards by allowing its Starshield satellites to transmit to Earth connected frequencies it's not expected to use, NPR reports. Starshield is simply a classified type of SpaceX's Starlink outer web offered connected statement to authorities agencies "to support nationalist information efforts," according to nan company's website.

The study is based connected findings from amateur outer locator Scott Tilley, who observed what appeared to beryllium Starshield satellites broadcasting connected frequencies usually dedicated to "uplink" transmissions from nan Earth to satellites successful orbit. Using nan frequencies that measurement violates standards group by nan International Telecommunication Union, a United Nations agency dedicated to coordinating nan usage of power spectrum crossed nan world.

Standards astir which frequencies are utilized for uplink and downlink broadcasts to satellites were created to debar interference, among different method issues. "Nearby satellites could person radio-frequency interference and could possibly not respond decently to commands — aliases disregard commands — from Earth," Tilley told NPR. It's not clear yet whether SpaceX ignoring these rules is causing immoderate issues pinch outer communication, but should problems arise, there's now a imaginable cause.

SpaceX's first awesome Starshield task was a $70 cardinal contract pinch US Space Force successful 2023. More precocious successful 2024, location were reports that SpaceX's Starshield section had been tasked pinch building retired a web of spy satellites to stitchery imagery of Earth for nan Department of Defense’s National Reconnaissance Office.