Discover Magazine D-Brief Blog (14 January 2019)

This Russian Start-up Wants to Put Billboards in Space. Astronomers Aren’t Impressed

​Astronomer John Barentine agrees this isn’t a bright idea — or actually, bright is the problem. Barentine serves as both director of conservation for the International Dark-Sky Association in Tucson, Arizona, and a member of the American Astronomical Society’s Committee on Light Pollution, Radio Interference and Space Debris. He says these space billboards could qualify as both light pollution and space debris and possibly even disrupt radio signals.

“It’s a threat to the ability to do astronomical research from the ground,” he says, noting that SpaceX’s plans to add at least another 7,500 CubeSats into low-earth orbit will also factor into the problem. “Every one of those moving blips of light in the night sky is something that can interfere with our ability to collect photons from astronomical sources.”

Read more: ​http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2019/01/14/this-russian-startup-wants-to-light-up-the-night-sky-with-outer-space-billboards/