Impact of Satellite Constellations on Astronomy: Virtual Workshop

NSF’s NOIRLab and the AAS, with support from NSF, are hosting the Satellite Constellations 1 (SATCON1) workshop virtually on 29 June - 2 July 2020. The first two days are open to people interested in mitigating the impact of satellite constellations on astronomy.

This workshop will gather together astronomers, satellite operators, dark-sky advocates, policy-makers, and other stakeholders and interested parties to discuss, understand, and quantify the impacts of large satellite constellations on astronomy and the human experience of the night sky. The goal is to work collectively towards effective solutions to mitigate those impacts and to publish them in a white paper that will be widely distributed. As launches and deployments of these satellite constellations have already begun, and new launches are planned for every few weeks, time is of the essence.

In the weeks before the workshop, four working groups are drafting a report summarizing the current state of knowledge in four areas (1) synthesizing results from ground-based observations of satellites and identifying future observing program needs; (2) examining the current status of simulations for assessment of impact and need for further refinement; (3) exploring mitigation through lab measurement of satellite surface reflection and detector performance as well as operational strategies; and (4) developing a set of metrics for protection of optical/IR observations based on the results of the other working groups.

The working groups will share their findings with registered attendees and other stakeholders in a document a few days before the workshop, and the findings will be presented and discussed during the first two days of the workshop. Through the outcome of the discussions, revisions will be made and a white paper will result with recommendations that include quantitative metrics and an understanding on the impact on the science as well as our cultural heritage. This white paper will then be widely disseminated.

Conference dates:

• Days 1 and 2 (Monday 29 June and Tuesday 30 June) are open to astronomers, satellite operators, dark-sky advocates, policy-makers, and other stakeholders. The first two days will be devoted to sharing results from the four working groups and discussion.
• On Days 3 and 4, Wednesday 1 July and Thursday 2 July, the working groups (and highly interested attendees) will merge the information from the discussions and the pre-workshop document into a final white paper.

We will meet for four hours each day, in two 2-hour blocks:

• 7:30am–9:30am US Pacific Time (10:30am–12:30pm US Eastern Time)
• 10am–noon US Pacific Time (1:00pm–3:00 pm US Eastern Time/Chilean Time)

Attend the first two days by registering at https://aas.org/satellite-constellations-1-workshop. Please register in advance so you can be admitted to the Zoom session by the moderator. There is no registration fee. Although the formal registration deadline was 22 June 2020, late registrations will be accepted until 24 June 2020.