It's getting crowded up there. Flocks of cubesats, fleets of orbiting cameras, and the first broadband internet mega-constellations from the likes of SpaceX, Amazon, and OneWeb are quickly filling low Earth orbit. If all the services launch as planned, there could soon be 10 times as many satellites operating in orbit as there are today.The rise in dangerous space junk is a concern. But there's a more immediate headache for satellite operators: a tightening squeeze on the radio frequency spectrum required to operate from orbit. Could space startups squabbling over getting their fair share actually hold back this nascent industry?Electromagnetic radiation spans a wide range of frequencies and energies, but only specific bands are useful for communication to and from space. High-frequency x-rays would be dangerous; microwave signals are absorbed by the atmosphere; low-frequency radio waves are less effective at transmitting information and require large, ungainly antennas.
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