By Wendel Roelf
Astronomers working with South Africa’s SKA telescope are pushing authorities to ensure that any licensing agreement with Elon Musk’s Starlink will protect their groundbreaking observations, a senior scientist said.
Discussions to bring Musk’s internet service Starlink in South Africa have already been contentious, with parent company SpaceX criticising local shareholding laws while backing equity equivalent programmes.
Attaching astronomy-linked licensing conditions may further complicate attempts to introduce Starlink to the country of Musk’s birth, where he has already said he is deterred by government Black empowerment policies.
South Africa said it will review its Information and Communication Technology sector rules but will not back down on government policies to transform the economy three decades after white-minority rule ended.
Scientists fear South Africa’s Square Kilometre Array (SKA-Mid), the world’s most powerful radio telescope together with another array co-hosted in Australia, will have their sensitive space observations distorted by Starlink’s low-orbiting satellites.
“It will be like shining a
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