The Impact of Orbital Data Centers on the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory
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 ∼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 (μg ≈ 9−11 mag arcsec−2), while diffuse reflections more typically reach 6 AB mag (μg ≈ 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.
Related
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BibTeX
@misc{jangid2026impact,
title = {{The Impact of Orbital Data Centers on the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory}},
author = {Nayan Jangid and Meredith L. Rawls and Peter Yoachim and Connie Walker and Siegfried Eggl},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.31772},
eprint = {2610.31772},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.31772},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - The Impact of Orbital Data Centers on the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory
AU - Nayan Jangid
AU - Meredith L. Rawls
AU - Peter Yoachim
AU - Connie Walker
AU - Siegfried Eggl
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/22
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.31772
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.31772
AB - 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 ∼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 ≈ 9−11 mag arcsec^−2), while diffuse reflections more typically reach 6 AB mag (μ_g ≈ 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.
ER -