{
  "abstract": "As the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory begins its Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), satellite operators are racing to launch Orbital Data Center (ODC) satellites into low-Earth orbit. We present an impact assessment of a simulated $\\sim$1 million ODC satellite constellation, arranged per recent filings across two low-Earth and two Sun-synchronous orbit regimes, on one year of Rubin Observatory LSST observations. Our six-stage sequential pipeline combines orbit propagation, field-of-view matching, observer-frame geometry, brightness modeling, surface-brightness calculations, and pixel-loss estimates. We find that on a given night, up to 80% of LSST pointings would contain at least one illuminated ODC satellite streak, depending on the time of year. The yearly average of contaminated exposures is closer to 20%, due to seasonal visibility variations and bright satellite streaks being most prominent near twilight. Sun-synchronous ODCs disproportionately contaminate due to preferential illumination geometry. The ODC satellite brightness distribution is multi-modal, where solar panel specular reflection can appear as bright as 2-4 AB mag ($μ_g \\approx 9-11$ mag arcsec$^{-2}$), while diffuse reflections more typically reach 6 AB mag ($μ_g \\approx 13-14$ mag arcsec$^{-2}$). Even at 10% deployment, the constellation would still produce widespread visible streak contamination throughout the year. ODC satellites would also drastically increase sky brightness -- by more than 1000% near twilight with no Moon. Launching and operating ODC satellites at this scale would significantly harm LSST science, including typical 5-10% nightly mean pixel losses near twilight, even if multiple mitigation strategies are implemented.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2610.31772",
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Nayan Jangid"
    },
    {
      "name": "Meredith L. Rawls"
    },
    {
      "name": "Peter Yoachim"
    },
    {
      "name": "Connie Walker"
    },
    {
      "name": "Siegfried Eggl"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9b0yq6jgx8531.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2610.31772",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "9b0yq6jgx8531",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.31772",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "astro-ph.IM"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2610.31772",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-22",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9b0yq6jgx8531.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:35:15Z",
      "native_id": "2610.31772",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.31772"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "arxiv:astro-ph.IM",
      "subfield": "instrumentation-methods"
    }
  ],
  "title": "The Impact of Orbital Data Centers on the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory",
  "title_text": "The Impact of Orbital Data Centers on the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:35:15Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9b0yq6jgx8531",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}