It wasn’t space aliens – viewers who were looking at the night sky and saw a constellation of lights were probably seeing a group of Starlink satellites set off by SpaceX this week.
“Because the satellites are launched in groups—usually in a batch of 60—they tend to form straight lines as they orbit the Earth,” writes Ed Browne at Newsweek. “These lines of satellites can be seen by the naked eye from the ground when they reflect the sun’s light—an arresting sight for someone who doesn’t know what they are.”
Previously we reported on both Microsoft and Google vendor services for this line of orbiters that’s part of the SpaceX program, an ambitious set of projects and services, some in collaboration with NASA, to enhance our exploration of space.
While the Starlink program works to collect data and facilitate communications in space, SpaceX is also working on other key projects, and it’s not alone in international space research.
Just this year, we have three planned Mars rover missions: the Hope project from the UAE, Perseverance from NASA, and a Chinese project called Tianwen-1.
Meanwhile, none other than Boeing is working on its own Starliner program, which involves a reusable crew capsule as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Development program. Russia, for its part, has reportedly restarted its Luna moon program.
SpaceX, meanwhile, will be taking individuals to the international space station, while China is working on its own separate Tiangong outpost.
All of this is exciting to fans of space science endeavors. After the U.S. shuttle program closed in the 80s, there was a lull in the advancement of space exploration. Now it seems like launches are happening continuously, and we’re seeing a lot more in terms of both manned missions and probes going out beyond the boundaries of the solar system.
