# Impact of Mega Constellations on Geospace Safety
###### Abstract
characterized NewSpace as a dramatic change in the space environment with the launch of mega constellations, and in order to cope with the changes brought about by NewSpace, it is crucial to reconsider how to develop new space environment management programs and enhance all aspects of space traffic management [18]. [PERSON] et al., [PERSON] et al., and [PERSON] point out that [19; 20; 21] strict adherence to post-mission disposal guidelines and disposal at the end of a satellite's expected operational life, where possible [22], is critical to mitigate the impact of these mega constellations on the near-Earth geospace environment. However, as noted above, the current disposal success rate is no more than 50 percent. According to CelesTrak forecasts, Starlink is the satellite with the nearest rendezvous events in LEO space, with a total of 224 near approach events with a collision probability exceeding the red alert limit of \(10^{-4}\) within 7 days for Starlink launches as of 10 April 2022, the majority of which are its own rendezvous events with itself, \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Name** & **Affiliation** & **Altitude [km]** & **First Launch** & **Number of** \\  & & & **Data** & **Satellites** \\ \hline Starlink & SpaceX & 340-1150 & 24 May 2019 & 41,927 \\ E-Space & E-Space & LEO & March 2022 & 100,000 \\ Kuiper & Amazon & 590–630 & No launch & 3236 \\ OneWeb & OneWeb & 1200 & 27 February 2019 & 1980 \\ Space Internet & Samsung & 2000 & No launch & 4700 \\  & China Star & 508–590 & No launch & 6080 \\  & Network & 1145 & No launch & 6912 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Major international mega constellation programs [1; 3; 4; 5; 6; 8; 9]. but there were also many rendezvous with other LEO satellites. These findings suggest that mega constellations have a significant impact on the geospace environment of LEO satellites, raising the question of how to quantify such impact and assess visual impact on LEO satellites. The impact of mega constellations on low-orbiting satellites has been well-documented, with the European Space Agency (ESA) maneuvering an Earth science satellite, Aeolus, to avoid a potential collision with the Starlink 44 satellite in 2019 [24]. According to a document provided by China to the UN space agency in December 2021, the Starlink satellite flew dangerously close to the Chinese space station on two occasions, for which the Chinese space station has implemented two avoidance control measures [25]. The presence of many other spacecraft in Earth's near-Earth orbit, which is also affected by mega constellations for orbital safety, and the orbital maneuvering of satellites to avoid collisions (which requires the consumption of propellant and therefore reduces the satellite's lifetime), is posing a challenge to normally operating satellites in the same orbit in order to avoid collisions with them. The geospace environment is changing dramatically as a result of the emergence of mega constellations, and the extent of this change is an urgent concern for the future; this paper aims to discuss the solution to this problem as well as provide its own approach. Figure 1: Number of satellites launched over the years [23]. Figure 2: Changes in space catalogued objects in LEO, (**a**) 2000 (**b**) 2010, (**c**) 2022 [14]. Mega constellations have already had a significant impact on the geospace environment of low-orbiting satellites, but this type of impact has not been well-quantified. In this paper, Starlink is used as a mega constellation and three target satellites with different characteristics are chosen to calculate the impact of Starlink on Earth's LEO space in order to better quantify this impact and determine which characteristics are most affected. While two cases exist, only one without considering Starlink i.e., only other satellites, exists.