Starlink Signal Leakage Threatens Radio Astronomy's Most Critical Frequencies

Astronomers detected 112,534 radio emissions from 1,806 Starlink satellites in the 73–235 MHz band, the exact range SKA-Low requires, with leakage up to 106 Jy/beam—about 10,000 times stronger than the 10−5 Jy hydrogen signals SKA-Low aims to capture. The emissions include unpredictable 13-kHz tones at ~137 MHz every 100 seconds and occupy up to 30% of images, even within ITU-protected bands, threatening to render those frequencies unusable for early-universe studies.