US spy satellites built by SpaceX send signals in the "wrong direction"

"About 170 Starshield satellites built by SpaceX for the US government's National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) have been sending signals in the wrong direction, a satellite researcher found. The SpaceX-built spy satellites are helping the NRO greatly expand its satellite surveillance capabilities, but the purpose of these signals is unknown. The signals are sent from space to Earth in a frequency band that's allocated internationally for Earth-to-space and space-to-space transmissions. There have been no public complaints of interference caused by the surprising Starshield emissions."

""This particular band is allocated by the ITU [International Telecommunication Union], the United States, and Canada primarily as an uplink band to spacecraft on orbit-in other words, things in space, so satellite receivers will be listening on these frequencies," Tilley told Ars. "If you've got a loud constellation of signals blasting away on the same frequencies, it has the potential to interfere with the reception of ground station signals being directed at satellites on orbit.""

About 170 Starshield satellites built by SpaceX for the US National Reconnaissance Office have been emitting signals from space to Earth in the 2025–2110 MHz range. That frequency band is allocated internationally and by the US and Canada primarily for Earth-to-space and space-to-space uplinks. Signals were detected over Canada, the United States, and Mexico, and the constellation likely emits over other countries as well. There have been no public complaints of interference so far. The emissions' purpose is unknown. The transmissions raise concerns about lack of transparency in US spectrum management and failures to coordinate usage with other nations. Loud constellation emissions could interfere with ground-station uplink reception because satellite receivers listen in that band.

Read at Ars Technica