Listen: https://soundcloud.com/astrophiz/astrophiz216-10thanniversaryspecial
Transcript:
SFX: Sputnik beeps
Brendan: (cheerful but ominous): G’day listeners, and welcome to Episode 216, where we are also celebrating our 10th anniversary of Astrophiz — and in today’s podcast we bring you the wonders of the cosmos with equal parts stardust and sarcasm.
I’m your host, space-curious and signal-sensitive, here to beam you a tale that begins with triumph… and ends with, well, invisible tragedy.
Today’s episode?
We’re launching into the sparkling history of satellites and rocketing through their quirky, explosive, and slightly paranoid history and their impact on the slowly dimming skies above us, and why your backyard stargazing sessions are getting upstaged by billionaire’s latest space discos.
So grab your telescope, your tinfoil hat, and your best scowl — because we’re talking about satellites, sky pollution, and the valiant, twinkling battle of the Dark Sky Parks.
For millennia, humanity gazed upward, finding in the constellations a multitude of gods, myths, and purpose … a time to fish, to reap, to sow, to collect Emu eggs.
I’ll begin with A Brief History of Satellites
The history of satellites begins in 1957, with the launch of Sputnik 1 by the Soviet Union.
It was a shiny metal ball that went Beep beep beep .. Beep beep!
What’s that sound? That wasn’t just radio telemetry.
That was the noise of every Cold War general collectively losing their minds, and which triggered a global freak-out that made Y2K look like a hiccup … it was 58 centimeters wide, orbiting Earth and beeping back radio signals … and so it marked the dawn of the space age.
The world watched and listened in awe.
I was aged 4 at the time. My brother was 8, and my little sister was only three months away.
We stood in the back yard at our family home in rural Victoria. The newspapers were full of the news of the Russian satellite, and Victoria was going to have a perfect view!
… and this has always been my very first memory … My brother and I were allowed to stay up late to see the satellite …. It was a beautiful spring evening … not a cloud in sight … The sky was full of stars …
But … we nearly missed it. Why?
The Melbourne Argus – our daily newspaper at the time – had referred to Sputnik as ‘the Red Moon’ because Communism was a big scary thing at the time … McCarthyism hit the states in 1950, and so “Reds under the bed” hit Australia in 1952 …
so on October 9, just 5 days after Sputnik’s launch in Kazakhstan, the O’Brien family is all out there looking for a big moving red moon-like object in the sky. ….lol
… but finally we did see something …. one of the stars was moving … it wasn’t a ‘Red Moon’ … it was a tiny white speck silently arcing directly above us. I remember it like yesterday … sigh
The impact of Sputnik 1 was instantaneous and world wide … reeling from the unexpected breakthrough by those damn communists, soon after, the United States launched its own satellite, Explorer 1, build by JPL … which carried a cosmic ray detector that led to the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belts.
Yay Science!!!
But wait … (Cue menacing music) … surely we can weaponize space just like we did the atom
We’ll zoom over over to the pentagon and eavesdrop ,,,
General Buck Turgidson says ” Those Commo Soviets can launch things! Into space! That means… they could drop bombs on us from orbit!”
Never mind that Sputnik had less offensive capability than a Roomba.
Thus began the satellite space race! And First up was ..,. of course … defence.
Then General Ripper said, “We need eyes in the sky!” So, the U.S. launched the CORONA program. Which, despite the name, had nothing to do with beer or pandemics.
These were spy satellites taking grainy photos of Soviet missile sites using literal film. They’d eject the film in a capsule, which would parachute back to Earth, and a plane would snatch it mid-air.
Very high tech at the time lol
Yes, the pentagon contractors invented high-tech space surveillance… and yet still had to use Polaroid-era tech. It was like a James Bond movie directed by a confused chartered accountant.
Eventually, defence satellites grew more sophisticated. Infrared, radar, communications, even missile detection.
Generals Turgidson and Ripper still held the purse strings, the chartered accountant was fired.
Turgidson bellowed at President Eisenhower “If they blink, we will see it. If they sneeze, we’ll know which nostril.”
And thus, Earth was encircled by a growing army of techno-orbital tattletales.
Swiftly followed by Weather satellites! Because the meteorologists got jealous.
“Hey! We wanna play with satellites too!”
So in 1960, NASA launched TIROS-1. That stands for Television Infrared Observation Satellite. That’s right — TV in space, but instead of soap operas, it starred clouds.
TIROS was revolutionary. For the first time, we could see massive weather systems from above. Hurricanes, cyclones, and now many countries have whole fleet of these weather satellites. Some monitor ocean temperatures, others scan ozone, and at least one is just up there because a launch intern hit the wrong button. (Just kidding. Probably.)
Technology marches forward with relentless enthusiasm … and we get TV satellites!
So now let’s talk about communication satellites — or as I like to call them, “space walkie-talkies for grown-ups.”
In 1962, the U.S. launched Telstar 1, the satellite that made it possible to broadcast live television across the Atlantic. Before that? It was all smoke signals and angry carrier pigeons. (Okay, not really. But close.)
Suddenly, we could make transatlantic calls, share news, and watch the Beatles on TV without crossing an ocean.
Let’s skip to 1967. … I’m now 14 … Australia is grooving to The Seekers and wondering how the Queen keeps her hat on in the wind, we decided it was time to head to space.
And no, not by strapping a sheep to a weather balloon.
We’re talking about WRESAT — the Weapons Research Establishment Satellite.
Yes, WRESAT. Possibly the least sexy satellite name ever, but we Aussies don’t need fancy names.
We just need results. And WRESAT delivered … mate.
[SFX: Old-timey newsreel voiceover] “Australia becomes the third country to launch a satellite from its own soil.”
And how did we pull that off? Simple! We borrowed a Sparta rocket from the Americans — basically NASA’s version of a high-powered party popper — and launched WRESAT from Woomera in South Australia..
Yes, Woomera. It sounds like the kind of place Crocodile Dundee would stash his spaceship.
Now, WRESAT wasn’t filming Netflix or tweeting selfies. It was a scientific payload packed with sensors to measure upper atmospheric temperatures, densities, and probably how many flies it could squash on re-entry.
Spoiler: zero. It burned up after 42 revolutions around the Earth. Just like your New Year’s resolutions.
But still — Australia had entered the space age. We beat the French, we beat the Japanese, and most importantly, we beat our own expectations. Not bad for a country where our national bird is a flightless feathered rugby ball.
Fast forward to the 21st century. While the world’s busy launching billionaire egos into space, Australia’s brewing a space revival — less moon cheese, more solid engineering. Enter Gilmour Space Technologies: the Queensland-based company that’s saying, “Oi, let’s go orbital.”
Founded by two brothers — one a banker, one a rocket scientist.
Gilmour’s been developing Eris, a small launch vehicle that uses a hybrid rocket engine. That means it combines solid fuel with liquid oxidizer — like a smoothie, but with more thrust and fewer strawberries.
They’re targeting low Earth orbit. Because, let’s face it, geostationary is so last century. The goal? To give Australia sovereign launch capabilities — which is a fancy way of saying “We want to launch our own stuff without hitching a ride from an over-egoed Elon.”
And where are they launching from? Bowen, Queensland. That’s right — the town best known for mangoes and sunburn is about to become Australia’s Cape Canaveral. The launch pad is right near the beach, so if something goes wrong, at least you can watch your rocket explode with a cocktail in hand.
We’ll let you know how it goes. Stay tuned.
Meanwhile all over our overheated planet, thousands of Comms satellites have turned the world into a very noisy group chat.
They relay phone calls, texts, internet data, your Aunt Maude’s twenty-four-paragraph Facebook posts and your wicked uncle’s conspiracy theories —the whole shebang.
These mostly orbit in geostationary orbit, which means they sit over the same spot on Earth like a cosmic paperweight. You point your satellite dish at them and boom: Netflix.
Or, you know, these geostationary sats facilitate international peacekeeping communications and the ability to direct aid to remote disaster-stricken communities . …. But mostly Netflix.
Then we said, “Hey, what if we point these spy-quality cameras… at the Earth?”
Enter Earth observation satellites. These guys are the stalkers of the solar system. They watch forests, oceans, farmland, glaciers, urban sprawl, probably your backyard, and definitely your weed plants behind the shed and that weird rock collection you’ve been hiding.
Earth-observing satellites that can zoom in close enough to tell if your lawn was mowed, and of course more sophisticated Spy satellites that could see what brand of cigarette you were smoking,
Remember smokers? Nah, me either …
And thus continued the race for space. Over the decades, satellites evolved from cold war tools into vital instruments of modern life.
As time marches on, satellites got much smarter. And smaller. And cheaper. So what did we do?
We launched more of them. Because nothing says “responsible space stewardship” like throwing 60 identical cubes into low Earth orbit every Tuesday.
Today, satellites allow us to navigate, communicate, forecast, observe, measure, predict and even understand our changing climate.
They are the backbone of our global civilization. But as their numbers grow, so too do their unintended consequences.
That awe-struck 4 year old Fast forwards 68 years to today … where many world states and many private companies have entered the satellite arena with unprecedented vigour.
Companies like SpaceX, OneWeb, Amazon’s Project Kuiper, and others are launching hundreds, even thousands, of satellites into low Earth orbit.
China has just launched the first of 15,000 satellites … the Thousand Sails mega constellation, also known as Qianfan
there are almost 8000 StarLink satellites currently in orbit, Oneweb has over 500, Amazon’s Project Kuiper has planned for over 3000 …
These mega-constellations aim to bring internet access to even the most remote parts of the globe.
A noble goal, perhaps. But it comes with a price.
Astronomers now struggle to see the our pristine cosmos. Satellite trails streak across long-exposure images.
Observatories, once sanctuaries of deep space study, are being blind sided.
The cause? Our addiction to upward infrastructure.
But it’s not only scientists who are affected. All of us are losing something irreplaceable: the night sky.
Light pollution, amplified by urbanization and satellite reflection, washes away the stars. In most cities, only a handful of the brightest stars remain visible. The Milky Way, once visible to everyone, is now hidden from over two-thirds of humanity. There are millions of city-bound children all around the globe who have never ever seen a star up in the sky.
This loss isn’t just aesthetic. It has profound psychological, cultural and ecological consequences. There are many species of mammals, insects, birds and marine life that depend on a dark night sky for navigation, feeding, breeding and migration.
The stars have guided explorers, inspired artists, and connected cultures. From Aboriginal Dreamtime stories to Polynesian navigation, dark skies are a part of our shared human heritage.
But their disappearance affects more than tradition. Artificial light disrupts human sleep cycles, impacting health.
And for children who grow up never seeing the stars, what dreams will they dream? Kids today grow up seeing fewer stars than their grandparents. For some city dwellers, the night sky has been reduced to a dull orange glow and a suspiciously fast-moving “star” every six seconds.
Without that awe, that sense of infinite possibility —we are cutting off our cosmic curiosity at the source.
There is hope. We spoke a couple of episodes ago with Ciara Guy, a space lawyer who took us through the treaties, agreements and protocols that aim to provide a governance process to protect our access to the night sky … but progress in getting internationally enforceable agreements is painfully slow …
On a more positive note, all around the world, a movement is growing to protect the night.
Dark Sky Parks, reserves, and sanctuaries are being established to preserve pristine night environments.
Currently there are 38 certified International Dark Sky Communities globally, with over 200 Dark Sky Places overall, including parks, reserves and precincts.
We have the internationally certified Carrickalinga Dark Sky Community which works with council to reduce street lighting and enact lighting design regulations to preserve their night skies by eliminating sources of light pollution.
Carrickalinga Dark Sky Community was certified by organizations like the International Dark-Sky Association, these communities enforce strict lighting policies, educate the public, and offer unparalleled access to the cosmos.
They are refuges, not just for astronomy, but for an existential human experience. In their silence, we remember our place in the universe.
Thankfully, all is not lost. Around the world, passionate sky-lovers, astronomers, and nocturnal romantics have been fighting back — creating these Dark Sky Parks.
These are protected areas where artificial light is kept to a minimum, and the stars can finally come out to play.
I’ll list a few — you might be within striking distance of one …. You might put some on your bucket list …
Can you imagine the glorious views in some of these beautiful jewels?
Warrumbungle National Park, here in Australia – The Southern Hemisphere’s first Dark Sky Park! I’ve seen it … Kangaroos by day, galaxies by night. What’s not to love?
Aoraki Mackenzie, near Lake Tekapo in New Zealand – Stars so bright they practically tattoo your retina. We’ve been there too … Definitely a bucket list item if you’ve never been to NZ
Cherry Springs State Park, USA – Where the Milky Way stretches across the sky like a cosmic snake.
NamibRand Nature Reserve, Namibia – Desert, silence, and the universe. Bring water and wonder.
Galloway Forest Park, Scotland – Stargazing with a side of haggis and the sound of bagpipes.
Pic du Midi, France – Where astronomers sip wine between observations. Definitely going there!
Jasper National Park, Canada – The only place you can see the aurora and fight off a moose simultaneously.
These parks protect not just skies, but culture. Indigenous star stories. Scientific exploration. And that feeling — you know the one — when you look up and remember you’re on a tiny rock hurtling through a glittering void.
But preserving the night sky requires more than remote parks. It demands a global shift.
Now here’s the kicker: Remember I’m not anti-satellite. I’m pro-balance.
And there is hope … Governments and companies are starting to listen… kind of… maybe… on weekends.
But real change only comes when people care.
So if you’ve ever looked up and felt robbed of your cosmic inheritance, say something.
Support dark sky advocacy.
Visit Dark Sky Parks. Talk to your local councillors about light pollution.
Turn off that floodlight that’s been blinding your neighbour’s telescope since 1999.
And tell Elon to chill with the satellites. Maybe send up one shaped like a koala for good PR. I don’t know. I’m just a podcast host.
Engineers are developing satellites with less reflectivity. Cities are adopting downward-facing, amber lighting. Astronomers are working with companies to find solutions.
It’s not too late. But the clock is ticking. Every new launch changes the sky and limits our scientific endeavour to understand our universe and our place in it.
The night sky is not a luxury. It is a legacy. A right. A wonder. One that every generation deserves to inherit.
Because only in darkness can we truly see the light.
Now, I get it. Satellites have given us incredible stuff: weather alerts, GPS, emergency communications, cat videos, watching someone juggle flaming swords on TikTok.
But there’s a cost. And we’re not just talking sky clutter.
What do we dream of, if we never see the stars?
And that’s not all …
We’re not just losing sight of the stars. We’re losing the silence of space, too.
Over the last 10 years, we have interviewed well over 100 eminent astrophysicists,
Enter the villain … and the enemy of all radio astronomers … RFI — Radio Frequency Interference.
These radio astronomers use giant dishes and arrays to listen to the whispers of the universe. Black holes. Pulsars. Quasars, Fast Radio Bursts, Gamma Ray bursts, Cosmic collisions between neutron stars and black holes … whole galaxies colliding ….
They even listen to the Cosmic microwave background radiation — the original Big Bang after party.
All Satellites — especially these mega-constellations — emit radio signals that overwhelm these precious and faint cosmic whispers. And just like that, your quest to detect primordial hydrogen from the dawn of time, or what’s called the Epoch of Reionization …. becomes a game of “Guess That WiFi Password.”
There are solutions being proposed — satellite darkening paint, better orbital coordination, launching fewer but more capable spacecraft. Effective ‘Silent mode’ over the VLA, VLBI ALMA, CHIME, many other radio observatories …
Over the last 200 odd episodes we have interviewed astronomers using all those observatories … plus here in Australia, the ASKAP array, the ATCA, the MWA, the beautiful dish at Parkes.
In China we spoke with astronomers using the gigantic 500meter dish called FAST, in the US we spoke with researchers using Greenbank and the alien hunting Allen Array, in the Netherlands the Westerbork Array, and the UK’s Jodrell bank … I know there’s other radio observatories we’ve featured that I haven’t mentioned here … I apologise ….
And at all of them, researchers and data scientists are hoping that AI can do a decent battle with mega constellation RFI …. But Fingers crossed is not a solution to a very real problem
and let’s not forget the billion dollar investment we have over in Manchester HQ, in Australia and South Africa in the mind-boggling SKA … the Square Kilometer Array being build as we speak…
Do you remember the Event Horizon Telescope … which captured the first image of a black hole back in 2019 … it would struggle to do the same job today … squinting through a haze of RFI.
The sky belongs to all of us. It’s not just a place for billionaires to park their orbiting gadgets or for satellites to clog up like interstellar cholesterol.
It’s our oldest canvas, our original storybook, our biggest mystery.
Let’s protect what’s left of it — not because we’re afraid of the future, but because we still believe the stars should shine for everyone.
I’ll sign off now … The sky belongs to all of us.
Let’s protect what’s left of it — not because we’re afraid of the future, but because we still believe the stars should shine for everyone, especially kids with dreams …
This has been Astrophiz — your starlit, slightly satirical reminder that space isn’t just up there. It’s ours. Let’s keep it visible, audible, and magical.
Until next time: stay curious, stay kind, and don’t forget to look up… while you still can.
Astrophiz — where the stars are free-range, the facts are gravity-defying, and the future is… hopefully not entirely fluorescent.
Keep looking up
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