SpaceX has tried to mitigate this by adding visors to newer Starlink satellites to reduce reflectivity. That helps, but it doesn't solve the problem. Even "darkened" satellites are still visible, especially to sensitive astronomical instruments. And not every company is as responsive—Amazon hasn't committed to the same measures.

The regulatory vacuum is particularly troubling. The Federal Communications Commission approves satellite launches, but they're not evaluating environmental or astronomical impact. The International Astronomical Union has raised concerns, but they have no enforcement power. We're making an irreversible change to the global commons without any real oversight.

What makes this feel especially Silicon Valley is the move-fast-and-break-things mentality applied to shared resources. You can iterate on software. You can't iterate on the night sky. Once you have 100,000 satellites in orbit, that's the night sky for the next several decades. There's no undo button.

I'm generally pro-innovation and pro-technology. I've built startups in spaces where regulation was unclear. But there's a difference between disrupting an industry and disrupting something that belongs to all of humanity. The night sky isn't SpaceX's to optimize.

The counterargument is always about access—connecting the unconnected, bringing internet to remote areas, enabling global communication. Those are real benefits. But benefits to some don't justify costs to all. We're trading astronomical research and the cultural heritage of a dark sky for marginally better internet coverage in already-connected areas.

The tragedy is that this probably could have been done more carefully. Higher orbits would reduce visibility. Stricter limits on reflectivity could have been mandated before launch. International coordination could have set standards. But that would have been slower, and slower means competitors might get ahead. So we're in a race where nobody wants to be responsible.

What keeps me up is that this is just the beginning. If mega-constellations are profitable, more companies will launch them. If they're not strictly regulated, they'll keep growing. In 20 years, the night sky might be more satellites than stars from a visible light perspective.

The technology is impressive—launching and managing thousands of satellites in coordination is genuinely hard engineering. But the question isn't whether we can do it. The question is whether we should do it without considering who we're doing it to.

Astronomers are calling for international agreements, orbital zones for scientific observation, and stricter reflectivity standards. These are reasonable asks. But they require companies to slow down and governments to act—and neither is happening fast enough.

We're privatizing the night sky because we can, and because there's money in it, and because nobody with the power to stop it thinks it's their problem. By the time we collectively decide this was a mistake, it will be too late to fix it.

4 days ago