Crowded Skies: The Commercial Satellite Boom

From Tokyo, Japan and New Plymouth, New Zealand – this is Down to Business English. With your hosts Skip Montreux and Samantha Vega. Hello Samantha. How are you doing today? A bit tuckered out, to tell the truth. But in general I’m doing just fine. Oh, what’s got you so tuckered out? I just got back from taking my neighbor’s dog Macy for a nice long walk. Oh, are you dog-sitting for them? No, they just went out for a fancy dinner and asked us to take care of her for a few hours.

Well, aren’t you the kind neighbor. I really don’t mind. Macy’s a great dog, and walking her is a great exercise. It gets me out for a bit. Nothing like an evening stroll to get your daily step count in. Not only that, but the night skies are amazing. There are so many stars. You can even see the Milky Way from where I’m located. It’s really beautiful. That’s nice. I’m so jealous. Here in Tokyo, there is just too much light pollution in the city. I can see the moon, but not many stars.

Mm, yeah I remember that when I was living there. Buildings as far as the eye can see. Not so many stars to see but a great nightlife! Here we have … here we have zero nightlife but the night sky just stretches forever. Ever seen a UFO? No, I haven’t. I’d like to though. Well, that would be an experience. Tell me about it. Occasionally you get a glimpse of the International Space Station and recently, it’s not that uncommon to see a chain of Starlink satellites crossing the sky.

Oh, that’s very interesting. Quick question for you, Samantha. Mm. What’s that? Would you say you’re seeing more satellites in the skies these days? Now that you mention it, yeah — I do see them more often than before. Why do you ask? Well it just happens that that is what I’ll be reporting on today — the commercial satellite industry and the growing issue of satellite pollution. Satellite pollution? That’s a new one.

Yeah, with the proliferation of commercial satellites, such as SpaceX’s Starlink network, there are more and more concerns in both business and science circles. Sounds serious. It is. So let’s get D2B … Down to Business with Crowded Skies: The Commercial Satellite Boom. Samantha, I have a history question for you. Er. Not my strong suit, but okay. Do you know when the first manmade satellite was launched into space? That would be Sputnik, right? Yes, Sputnik. And when was that?

Mmm. I’m guessing late 1950s? Maybe 1958? Oh very close! The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 in October of 1957, and that event kicked off the original space race. The United States quickly followed with their own satellite launches. Eventually winning the space race when they landed on the moon in 1969. I thought you were not good at history. Everyone knows when man first stepped foot on the moon. Okay well anyways.

For decades, satellites were mostly government-owned — used for military surveillance, weather forecasting, global communications, and scientific research. But that’s all changed now, hasn’t it? It has completely changed. In the past ten years, the cost of building and launching satellites has dropped significantly. That’s opened the door for private companies to jump into the commercial satellite market. SpaceX is the big name in the commercial sector, right?

Yes. Elon Musk’s SpaceX and its Starlink network lead the pack. But they’re not alone. Who are some of the competitors? Amazon for one. They are building their own satellite internet system called Project Kuiper. There is also the London based company OneWeb, which is a subsidiary of Eutelsat. The European telecommunication company? Yes. They have launched hundreds of satellites that provide telecommunication services across Europe.

And even Apple is partnering with Globalstar to offer emergency satellite communication to iPhones. So we’re not talking just one or two companies — it's a full-on boom in the commercial satellite sector. And because of this boom, the number of satellites orbiting Earth has exploded. According to Bloomberg, there are already over 9,000 satellites in low Earth orbit. And that number could exceed 65,000 by the end of this decade. Wow. That’s rapid expansion in a very short timeframe.

Where is all the demand for these commercial satellites coming from? A lot of it stems from the global need for reliable internet access. Believe it or not, there are billions of people around the world today who still don’t have access to a stable internet connection. Mm well, that doesn’t surprise me — especially in remote areas, away from large cities or population areas. High speed internet infrastructure can’t always reach those places.

And low earth orbit, or LEO satellites, are seen as the fastest solution to rectify this problem. Okay, but blanketing the planet with satellites just to get online? That sounds like a high price to pay. It certainly does come with consequences — and that’s what we are focusing on today. So what problems are all these satellites in space causing? Let’s start with one of the most immediate problems — limited radio spectrum. Radio spectrum? You might need to explain that for our listeners.

Sure. Just like on Earth, there is a range — or spectrum — of radio frequencies that can be used to send and receive signals. I know all about that. The morning radio show I host out of Fukuoka, Japan is broadcast on 76.1 Love FM. There you go, that’s the perfect example. Love FM uses the 76.1 megahertz frequency on the radio wave spectrum.

And just like that frequency is reserved for Love FM, communication satellites also need their own frequency on the spectrum to send and receive communication signals — without interference. And the spectrum of frequencies available for satellites to use is limited. Exactly. It’s kind of like limited real estate in space. Every satellite needs to use part of the spectrum to operate. But there’s only so much to go around, and now multiple companies are trying to claim the same space.

Hm, don’t tell me — SpaceX and Apple? You guessed it. Apple, through their partnership with Globalstar, wants to expand emergency satellite services for iPhones. But SpaceX, through Starlink, already dominates large sections of the spectrum. And they don’t want Apple encroaching on their market share. No, they don’t. In fact, SpaceX has filed a complaint with U.S. regulators to block Globalstar from getting access to more.

So it's not just satellites crowding space — it’s also signals crowding the radio frequencies. And because this spectrum is so important for delivering internet, voice, and emergency services, the competition over who controls it is getting very intense. And I imagine there’s a lot of money involved. Absolutely. Starlink is already bringing in $1.4 billion in annual revenue, and that figure is expected to do nothing but grow. Okay, so that’s the business side.

But what about the environmental or scientific impact of all these satellites in the sky? One major concern coming from scientists is light pollution. These satellites reflect sunlight, especially during dusk and dawn. That creates visible trails in the sky. Now to the naked eye, they might look interesting — but for astronomers, they are a major headache. Why’s that? Is it because the bright trails interfere with their telescope images? That’s precisely why.

Telescopes rely on clear, dark skies to observe distant stars and galaxies. But now, these bright satellite trails are making it harder to collect clean data. Some astronomers worry this could severely limit future discoveries. So we’re helping more people access the internet — but making it harder for scientists to study space? That is the trade-off. Another issue is collision risk. Sure with so many satellites in orbit, the chances of them crashing into each other must be increasing.

And when they do crash into each other, they create debris — and that debris can damage other satellites, creating a chain reaction known as the Kessler Syndrome. That sounds like a nightmare. One collision could trigger dozens more? You're right — it is a nightmare for astronauts and scientists. The more debris in orbit, the harder it becomes to operate safely in space. It would be a tragedy if the International Space Station was destroyed by space debris.

Well, it has gotten to the point where thousands of potential collision risks are tracked every day. Mm tell me this, what happens to a satellite when it reaches the end of life and no longer operational? Does it just stay in orbit forever? Many satellites are designed to burn up as they reenter Earth’s atmosphere. But that leads to another concern — atmospheric pollution. When satellites burn up, they release aluminum and other particles into the upper atmosphere. Mm. That doesn’t sound good.

Is it dangerous? Scientists believe these materials could damage the ozone layer and even affect the climate. The research on it is still ongoing, but there is growing concern that we are polluting space and the Earth at the same time. So just to recap — we've got radio interference, light pollution, space junk, and now atmospheric pollution? That pretty well sums it up. Is anything being done about all of these issues? Believe it or not, there is no global system in place to manage these risks.

Each country — and company — is pretty much doing their own thing. That's somewhat hard to believe. Experts are calling for some kind of international body to be set up to regulate satellite traffic, similar to the way the aviation industry is governed. Well, that makes sense. I mean, air traffic is strictly managed — shouldn’t space traffic be too? You’d think so. But so far, there’s no official framework. Until that changes, the skies above us will only get more crowded — and more complicated.

Satellite technology brings huge benefits — better internet, more data, global connectivity. But if we’re not careful, we may end up creating more problems than we solve. It is very clear that something needs to be done. No argument from me on that point. And on that note, I think it is time for us to get D2V … Down to Vocabulary.

Our first expression on the D2V list today is the verb phrase ‘to be tuckered out.’ If someone is tuckered out, it means they are tired — usually from some kind of physical activity. It’s another way to say someone is worn out or exhausted. In the introduction of today's episode, Samantha told us that she was a bit tuckered out after taking her neighbor’s dog Macy for a long walk. I was telling Skip I was a little tired from all the fresh air and exercise.

It’s a friendly expression, often used in casual conversation. For example, after a long day at a trade show, you might say to your coworkers, “I’m totally tuckered out — let’s grab some dinner and call it a night.” Or, if you’re managing a team that’s just finished a big project, you could say, “Great work everyone. I know you’re all tuckered out — take tomorrow morning off to recharge.” Wow, Samantha. You are such a nice manager. I don’t think I’d ever do that for my team.

I like to treat my team members well. I’ve had a few strict managers in my day and I didn’t like it too much. Hm. Makes sense. Moving on, the next word we are going to talk about is the verb ‘to orbit.’ A very important verb for our report today. It was. To orbit means to move in a circle around something else. For example, the moon orbits the Earth, or the Earth orbits the sun. And satellites orbit the Earth. That’s right — satellites do orbit the Earth.

In today’s report, Skip told us that the number of satellites orbiting the Earth has exploded in recent years. He was referring to how many commercial satellites are now circling our planet, especially in Low Earth Orbit. So, you can use ‘orbit’ as a noun too, as you just did — Low Earth Orbit. Yes, you can. Orbit can be used as either a noun or a verb.

Clearly, this word is important when talking about space, but it is often used idiomatically in business, especially when talking about systems that surround a central product. For example? AI agents like a customer service chatbot or AI scheduling assistants have become very popular these days. I know — my feed is full of ads for AI-powered tools like that. Well, all of those AI agents orbit around a single large language model like ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini.

The LLM handles the thinking, and the smaller tools rely on it to do their specialized job. That is a timely example. But we don’t only use orbit to describe the relationship between things. We can also use it to talk about relationships between people. Skip, have you ever attended a networking event in Tokyo? As a matter of fact, I have. I assume you wanted to meet new people and expand your professional network. That is exactly why I went.

Another way to say that is — you wanted to expand your professional orbit. It never hurts to have more people in your orbit. Hm. Nice! What’s our next D2V word? Our next and final item for D2V today is the verb ‘to rectify.’ To rectify something means you correct a mistake or fix an ongoing problem. I would say that ‘rectify’ is most often used in a formal, professional situation. I agree with that.

In my report, I said that billions of people around the world still don’t have access to the internet. And Low Earth Orbit satellites are considered to be the fastest way to rectify that problem. In other words, using Low Earth Orbit satellites to provide internet access to remote areas of the world is seen as the fastest way to solve the issue. In a business situation, you might hear your manager say, “We need to rectify this issue before the client notices,” Here is a real world example.

Last month, I was overcharged on my home electricity bill. Oh no. By very much? It was a lot. 30% higher than usual. Wow. Anyway, it was their mistake and after spending 30 minutes on the telephone with customer service, they rectified the issue. Oh, that is good to hear. I just wish I didn’t have to spend so much time on the phone to accomplish that. Next time, I think I’ll just send an email.

Would you like to help Down to Business English reach more people wanting to improve their Business English skills? Follow Down to Business English on Apple Podcasts, YouTube Music, Spotify, or any place podcasts are found. Leave a rating and a review and tell everyone how much you enjoy the show. Thanks for that report, Skip. I had no idea the skies above us were getting so crowded. It’s definitely one of those issues that’s orbiting just outside most people’s awareness — no pun intended.

Well, the next time I’m out for a night time walk and I look up and see some of those Starlink satellites, I will have a different take on the matter. D2B Members and Apple Podcast Subscribers — the bonus Down to Vocabulary episode for today’s report will be coming out in the next couple of days. In that bonus D2V, we will be looking at five more words and expressions from today’s episode.