Will 5G networks 'threaten' the astronomy industry?

Will the world face serious radio wave pollution in the future? - Photo: John Fowler

By pageInside ScienceLast weekend, the American Astronomical Society held a conference in Maryland, which highlighted a new source of pollution that has recently attracted the attention of scientists: radio waves.

Although radio waves are invisible to the human eye, they are a fundamental part of the electromagnetic spectrum—the range of all possible frequencies of electromagnetic radiation, stretching from low frequencies such as modern radio radiation to gamma radiation—used by astronomers to probe the universe.

Today, the rapid growth of wireless telecommunications companies is disrupting the radio wave environment.

“The biggest future impact is 5G — the next generation of wireless phone networks,” said Harvey Liszt, a radio astronomy researcher at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Virginia.

5G networks operate on the 28, 38, and 60 GHz bands. According to the inventors, 5G networks will reach speeds 100 times faster than 4G networks.

But before 5G networks become widespread, today's electronic and telecommunications devices have been "confronting" fiercely with many types of radiation in the electromagnetic spectrum.

Additionally, private space companies like Boeing and SpaceX are planning to launch thousands of satellites with the goal of providing global broadband Internet.

When these new systems are set up, they will have many impacts, not the least of which could disrupt the radio spectrum that radio astronomers use to study the universe.

Radio waves have lower frequencies and lower energies than visible light but play an irreplaceable role in the discovery of low-energy phenomena in the universe such as the cosmic microwave background radiation phenomenon, also known as cosmic remnant radiation.

This is a type of electromagnetic radiation that was born in the early universe about 380,000 years after the Big Bang.

Radio waves contributed to the creation of radio astronomy - a young branch of astronomy that studies celestial bodies through radio radiation.

Therefore, to avoid negative impacts in the future, scientists are working with policymakers to limit or appropriately distribute telecommunications networks that could affect space research.