A constellation of classified defense satellites built by the commercial company SpaceX is emitting a mysterious signal that may violate international standards, NPR has learned.
Satellites associated with the Starshield satellite network appear to be transmitting to the Earth's surface on frequencies normally used for doing the exact opposite: sending commands from Earth to satellites in space. The use of those frequencies to "downlink" data runs counter to standards set by the International Telecommunication Union, a United Nations agency that seeks to coordinate the use of radio spectrum globally.
Starshield's unusual transmissions have the potential to interfere with other scientific and commercial satellites, warns Scott Tilley, an amateur satellite tracker in Canada who first spotted the signals.
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Starshield is a classified version of SpaceX's Starlink satellites, which provide internet service around the world. The U.S. has reportedly paid more than $1.8 billion so far for the network, though little is known about it. According to SpaceX, Starshield conducts both Earth observation and communications missions.
Since May of 2024, the National Reconnaissance Office has conducted 11 launches of Starshield satellites in what it describes as its "proliferated system."
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It's unclear what the satellite constellation is up to. Starlink, SpaceX's public satellite internet network, operates at much higher frequencies to enable the transmission of broadband data. Starshield, by contrast, is using a much lower frequency range that probably only allows for the transmission of data at rates closer to 3G cellular, Tilley says.
Tilley says he believes the decision to downlink in a band typically reserved for uplinking data could also be designed to hide Starshield's operations. The frequent shift in specific frequencies used could prevent outsiders from finding the signal.
Gifford says another possibility is that SpaceX was just taking advantage of a quiet part of the radio spectrum. Uplink transmissions from Earth to satellites are usually rare and brief, so these frequencies probably remain dark most of the time.
"SpaceX is smart and savvy," he says. It's possible they decided to just "do it and ask forgiveness later."
I always wondered if they were using these things to monitor stuff in space, like ufos for example.
Seems more to it than just internet transmissions.
Maybe I missed it, but im surprised you didnt post the news about the starlink signals operating on public bands.
https://www.npr.org/2025/10/17/nx-s1-5575254/spacex-starshield-starlink-signal
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I always wondered if they were using these things to monitor stuff in space, like ufos for example.
Seems more to it than just internet transmissions.