In an attempt to provide internet to all corners of the globe, Elon Musk's Starlink project will gradually send tens of thousands of satellites into the earth's orbit. But some astronomers believe the project could increase the chances of asteroid hits to earth.
Astronomers' fear
Space agencies like Nasa and astronomers make use of telescopes to track near-earth objects that could pose a threat to earth in the future. However, the task will become extremely difficult when telescopes have to filter out tens of thousands of Starlink satellites that are already in the earth's orbit.
Astronomer John McDowell believes the science community should have prevented projects like Starlink before they began. Talking exclusively to Axios, he said: "The astronomy community dropped the ball. We should have been on this 10 years ago and we didn't see it coming," said McDowell.
Asteroid Apophis
A few months back, while interacting with followers on Twitter, the Tesla founder revealed that humans do not have a proper shield to protect the planet from doomsday asteroids. He made the comments when one of his followers asked whether asteroid Apophis will hit earth in 2029.
"Great name! Wouldn't worry about this particular one, but a big rock will hit Earth eventually & we currently have no defense," wrote Musk on Twitter. However, later Musk called Nasa's planetary defense mission 'Armageddon', prompting fears that something sinister from deep space was on its way to earth.
