Abstract

Contributed Talk - Splinter Protection

Thursday, 14 September 2023, 15:05   (H 2035)

LOFAR observations of Starlink satellites

Federico Di Vruno (1), Benjamin Winkel (2), Cees Bassa (3), Gyula I. G. Józsa (2,4), Michiel Brentjens (3), Axel Jessner (2), Simon Garrington (5)
SKAO (1), MPIfR (2), ASTRON (3), Rhodes University (4), Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics (5)

We report on observations of Starlink Satellites with the LOFAR telescope. In a 1-hour observation with LOFAR we detected 47 out of 68 satellies which crossed the field-of-view fixed towards zenith. The detected emission consists of a combination of narrow- and broadband signals between 110 and 188 MHz, including a protected radio astronomy band. Since these frequencies are nowhere close to the bands that SpaceX's is using for downlink communication signals, we conclude that we are measuring unintended electromagnetic radiation or leakage radiation from the electronics of the satellites. We describe the observations and discuss possible implications for radio astronomy at LOFAR frequencies.