The Hubble Space Telescope, which is less likely to snap a satellite as it takes in a narrower view of the universe, would have a third of its images tainted.
This could have an impact on all sorts of scientific endeavours.
“Imagine that you are trying to find asteroids that may be potentially harmful for Earth,” Borlaff said.
An asteroid streaking through the sky “looks exactly like a satellite… it’s really hard to figure out which one is the bad one,” he added.
Some space telescopes, such as the famous James Webb, are unaffected because they are hovering at a stable spot 1.5 million kilometres (932,000 miles) from Earth called the second Lagrange point.
– ‘As bright as the brightest star’ –
One solution could be to deploy satellites at lower altitudes than space telescopes but that could potentially deplete Earth’s ozone layer, the study said.
The most straightforward solution may just be to launch fewer satellites.
But competition from rival satellite internet companies and the surging needs of the artificial intelligence boom make that unlikely.
Nearly three-quarters of the satellites currently in orbit are part of Musk’s Starlink network, Borlaff said.
But Starlink is expected to represent just 10 percent of all satellites in a couple of decades as competition blasts off, according to the study.
For now, companies could help by providing the location, orientation and colour of their satellites to those operating space telescopes, Borlaff said.
Another problem is that satellites are getting much bigger.
To the naked eye, satellites that are 100 square metres (more than 1,000 square feet) in size are “as bright as the brightest star that you can see in the sky”, Borlaff said.
However, to handle AI’s data requirements, there are now plans to build ones 3,000 square metres wide.
These giants could be “as bright as a planet”, Borlaff added.
By Daniel Lawler
