The first batch of Thousand Sails satellites head to orbit. Credit: CNSA
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It's getting crowded up there in Low Earth orbit (LEO). By now, flocks of Starlinks have become a familiar sight, and the bane of astrophotographers as the "vermin of the skies." Now, several new competitors have joined the fray, with more waiting in the wings.

Perhaps you've seen one of these curious-looking "satellite trains," and wondered what they were. Certainly, the advent of satellite trains courtesy of Starlink have added to the annals of purported UFO videos shot via smartphone across YouTube. Now, more agencies worldwide are getting into the game in 2024, assuring that the next "star" you wish on at dusk may, in fact, be an artificial satellite.

Streaks and trails due to the increasing number of Starlinks in orbit have also become a standard feature in modern deep sky images. While techniques to remove these have been pioneered by astrophotographers, these will continue to impact deep sky astronomy. This impact extends to sky surveys soon set to come online such as the Vera Rubin Observatory, set to see first light early next year in 2025.

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Dubbed China's answer to Starlink, this will see an initial 1,296 satellites for the constellation placed in orbit by 2027. The company also has plans to expand the network to 12,000 satellites into the 2030s. This first batch went into a polar (sun-synchronous) orbit, and the resulting satellite train was spotted in orbit shortly after launch.

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