Overview
- Researchers modeling planned satellite deployments estimate about one-third of Hubble exposures and up to 96% of images from SPHEREx, ARRAKIHS and China’s Xuntian could be affected.
- Per-image contamination is projected to average roughly 6 streaks for SPHEREx, about 69 for ARRAKIHS and around 92 for Xuntian under the study’s baseline scenario.
- The team cites rapid constellation growth, with more than 15,000 satellites now in orbit and SpaceX reaching 10,000 Starlink craft in October 2025.
- If current plans proceed, the global satellite count could rise toward roughly 560,000 within a decade, driving extensive streaking across space-based instruments.
- Authors report previously measurable impacts on Hubble images (about 4.3% in 2018–2021) and warn that mitigation options remain partial and costly, with no simple solution identified.