A streak of unidentified flying objects that apparently appeared over Montana on the night of Christmas literally perplexed many local residents and many of them claimed that these lights are actually alien spaceships reached the earth for an invasion. As speculations surrounding these lights continue ruling the internet, the current best explanation for the row of bright lights in the night sky has a connection with SpaceX founder Elon Musk.
Are these UFOs Elon Musk's Starlink satellites?
As per space experts, the streak of UFOs that appeared on the night skies could be most probably Elon Musk's new Starlink satellite system. It was on November 11, 2019, that SpaceX launched 60 Starlink satellites Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, aimed to create a vast network of satellites to bring high-speed internet to rural areas in the planet.
Initially, SpaceX had plans to launch 12,000 satellites to the earth's orbit as a part of this program. However, in October 2019, the company apparently approached the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) seeking permission to launch an additional 30,000 satellites as a part of the Starlink project.
Will the Starlink project trap humans on earth?
As the Starlink project goes on in full swing, certain space experts believe that Elon Musk's move could affect future space missions, and it may trap humans on earth. As per space experts, Elon Musk's Starlink project will increase the amount of space debris drastically, and thus it will be harder for rockets to escape earth's orbit.
As per the current analysis, there are an estimated 170 million pieces of space junk floating in the earth's atmosphere, but only 22,000 are being traced so far.
"The worst case is: You launch all your satellites, you go bankrupt, and they all stay there. Then you have thousands of new satellites without a plan of getting them out of there. And you would have a Kessler-type of syndrome," said Dr Stijn Lemmens, a scientist at the European Space Agency.
International Astronomical Union had also recently slammed SpaceX, claiming that the increase in the number of satellites on earth's orbit could affect stargazing.
