Where the Sky Turns Black: Reflections on the 5G Satellite Net Surrounding the Earth

by Jeremy Naydler

5G and the Fourth Industrial Revolution The Starlink Satellites The company at the forefront of creating the 5G he new global satellite constellations currently infrastructure in space is SpaceX, owned by American being established in space are a crucial part of multi-billionaire, Elon Musk. During 2020, through the rollout of 5G, the fifth generation of wireless the long months of the pandemic, SpaceX was sending Tinterconnectivity, viewed by government, industry and rockets into space, each laden with up to sixty 5G the military as providing an essential upgrade to the “Starlink” satellites per rocket. The rocket launches still electronic infrastructure upon which so many different continue. So far, just under a thousand satellites have functions of society have now come to rely. Over the been raised into orbit, with the aim of creating an initial last year, during the pandemic, the infrastructure for 5G constellation of 1,440 satellites, which should become has continued to be laid at a swift pace. This electronic fully operational by the end of this year. Already, infrastructure is commonly referred to as an “ecosystem”, this first Starlink satellite constellation is providing a but far from providing a habitat for living organisms, fledgling internet broadband service to some northern the electronic ecosystem is the foundation of a new states of the USA, but by late 2021 the service should industrial era, named the Fourth Industrial Revolution. have a near-global reach. The satellites orbit the Earth It is the era of Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at an altitude of 340 miles, robotics, and the meddling intrusion of technology into and are divided into small groups, arranged in seventy- the realm of life, from genetic modification of plants two orbital planes, so that all parts of the globe can be and animals to human technological “enhancement”. covered. What is being created is a ‘satellite net’ that will The Fourth Industrial Revolution will attempt to capture the planet like a fly within an electromagnetic transform the world into a giant computer, through the web. Figure 1 gives an impression of this first phase of penetration of the physical sphere by the electronic, Starlink. so they become ever more closely intertwined. The computerisation of everyday products and appliances (the Internet of Things) is one obvious example; another is the increasing subjection of human beings to electronic security and surveillance systems, and the incorporation of computer interfaces within the human body. We shall have to adjust not only to being surrounded by cyber-physical systems, but also to being integrated with them. Crucial to the project of translating more and more of physical reality into computable data is the creation of an efficient infrastructure, capable of accumulating, storing and transmitting ever larger quantities of data. For this reason, hyperscale data facilities are being constructed at an unprecedented rate, new frequencies and bandwidths for electronic data transmission are being introduced, miniaturised phone masts (otherwise known as ‘small cell’ base stations) proliferate on lampposts and attached to the sides of buildings, while above us satellites swarm overhead.

Figure 1. Starlink Initial Phase: 1,440 satellites in 72 orbital planes.

New View 66 Figure 2. The Three Orbits of the Proposed Starlink Satellite Net.

Once the initial phase is complete, SpaceX will then with surface areas of the skin and eyes being especially establish further, much larger constellations of satellites, vulnerable.4 at different orbits. Currently, the company plans to set Because millimetre waves are so tiny, their signals up a second constellation of just under three thousand are less able to pass through physical barriers, like walls satellites orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 690 miles, and trees, than are the longer waves of lower frequencies. considerably higher than the first constellation. And For this reason, both land-based transmission and then it will set up a third, much larger constellation of transmission between terminals on Earth and satellites seven and a half thousand satellites, closer to the Earth in space use a technology called “phased array”. In the than the initial constellation, in what is called Very Low phased array, groups of antennae are co-ordinated to Earth Orbit, at 210 miles altitude (just ten miles higher radiate electromagnetic pulses in a specific direction than the orbit of the International Space Station). The and in a specified time sequence. This allows a Starlink satellite net is therefore going to be three-ply, concentrated beam to be exactly aimed at designated for the aim is that coverage of the Earth from space will targets, so signals can be sent or received with minimal be total, without any gaps (fig 2). interference. Because the beams are concentrated in These satellites are essentially orbiting phone masts, this way, this adds to their power, which means they are transmitting and receiving at much higher frequencies able more easily to penetrate physical obstacles, but for than have been generally used up until now.1 The three the same reason they are more dangerous to anything constellations, which together amount to nearly 12,000 living that gets in the way. The radiation penetrates to satellites, are just the first generation in an ambitious the cellular level, where it can have a highly damaging project which will see a further generation of 30,000 impact on living cells.5 satellites put into orbit, bringing the total number of In the minds of those responsible for the rollout of planned Starlink satellites to over 42,000. 5G, any consideration of the hazards to living organisms is far outweighed by its perceived advantages. The high Collateral Damage frequencies of 5G will enable much broader bandwidth The Earth’s atmosphere is already saturated with to be used, and this means that larger quantities of data electromagnetic radiation at a wide range of frequencies, can be transferred and the speed of transfer is a great from radio and TV broadcasting, WiFi, smartphones, deal faster. Faster transfer of data reduces what is called smart meters and a host of other devices. There is ‘latency’, or time-lag, in the system, which improves overwhelming evidence that electromagnetic radiation both industrial and military logistics. For example, it is detrimental to the health of many living organisms enables the military to re-target hypersonic missiles including human beings.2 Adding more radiation at even even while in the air, travelling at a mile per second.6 higher frequencies than those currently in widespread Greater quantities of data-transfer and reduction in use will only increase the toxicity of an already toxic latency also allow for a greater seamlessness between environment. The Extremely High Frequency millimetre the experience of computer-generated virtual content wave radiation that is intrinsic to 5G rollout has serious and the perception of objects in the real world, as is detrimental effects, particularly on insects, because required in Augmented Reality applications – already of their small body size.3 Many plants are sensitive to being used both in industry and by the military. millimetre waves, as are animals and human beings, Greater seamlessness means that human beings more

New View 67 Figure 3. The view of the stratosphere, and the beginning of the ionosphere, where the sky slowly darkens from blue to black. effortlessly inhabit the natural and the electronic worlds companies seeking to use satellites to usher in the simultaneously, as if they were a single reality. This is new cyber-physical era.7 Altogether, more than 90 an essential component of the transhumanist agenda of companies and government agencies are proposing human integration with machines, as well as the project satellite constellations, around half of which are for to transform the planet into a global computer. Any communication purposes, and many of which are detrimental consequences these agendas might have for specifically focused on servicing the Internet of Things.8 our human future and for life on Earth could hardly be Between them, many thousands more satellites are due allowed to hinder the majestic and dazzling prospect of to be launched in the next few years. We have also to an entirely technologized world. remember that it is not just Western companies that are involved in the new satellite space race. China, which The Satellite Gold Rush currently has nearly four hundred satellites, is planning The Starlink constellations are not the only ones to deploy a further thirteen thousand satellites. And then currently being deployed. Satellites have, of course, there is Russia and India...9 been circling the Earth since the late 1950s, but in Marek Ziebart, professor of Space Geodesy at relatively small numbers. In 2018, there were in total University College London, has described what is now approximately two thousand fully functioning satellites occurring as “a Californian goldrush land grab” in and about three thousand defunct ones, often referred to which nations and companies are racing to get as many as “space junk”. Of the actively functioning satellites, satellites into space as fast as possible.10 This is because some beamed down commercial GPS (or ‘SatNav’), whoever sets up their constellation first has effectively some provided TV, some provided smartphone claimed territory in space for themselves. And whoever services, and some produced high-definition images is first in providing a comprehensive global satellite for meteorologists and military surveillance, and so broadband service will most likely reap the biggest on. The number of satellites has increased since then, profits. most of this due to SpaceX setting up its first Starlink At present, the space industry is worth around $400 constellation. billion, with rapidly expanding markets and a highly Along with SpaceX, there is a multitude of profitable future ahead.11 The motivation behind the UK

New View 68 Figure 4. The mantles of the Earth. government acquiring the satellite company One Web Where the Sky Turns Black in July 2020 (together with an Indian telecoms operator) The initial constellation of Starlink satellites is being was based entirely on commercial considerations, as is established in the ionosphere, where there are already openly stated in a press release of UK Government’s several much smaller constellations of satellites, and Department for Business, Energy and Industry: where there will soon be a lot more. The ionosphere “This is a significant strategic investment, begins roughly fifteen to twenty miles above the demonstrating the government’s commitment to the higher reaches of the stratosphere. Towards the middle UK’s space sector and ambition to put Britain at the of the stratosphere, at an altitude of around sixty forefront of a new commercial space-age.”12 thousand feet, or twelve miles, the blue of the sky can The full statement (too long to quote here) well reflects be experienced as gradually darkening. At the upper the collective mentality driving the “commercial space- edge of the stratosphere, at roughly thirty miles above age”. There is no thought about what effects it might the Earth, the experience of darkness is much more have on the health and wellbeing of the planet and the pronounced. Passing over this edge, which is called the living creatures that inhabit the Earth. It is not just the “stratopause”, one enters the mesosphere (literally the radiation that should concern us. Every time a rocket is “middle sphere”) which lies between the stratosphere launched the ozone layer suffers depletion because of and the thermosphere. The ionosphere begins within its exhaust fumes, with deleterious consequences for all the mesosphere, at around the height of between forty living creatures on Earth.13 and fifty miles above the Earth, and it spans much of The overriding aim of the new satellite constellations the thermosphere above the mesosphere. It is roughly is to serve the military-industrial agenda of the Fourth at the height where the ionosphere begins that the Industrial Revolution, which is carrying us swiftly sky becomes entirely black, and we enter a region of towards a completely different order of existence perpetual darkness (figs. 3 and 4). on Earth. In this new order, Artificial Intelligence, The standard explanation for this phenomenon is robotisation, the Internet of Things, the manacling of that in the ionosphere the air is so thin it has all but human beings to electronic surveillance networks and vanished, so the sunlight has nothing to illumine. Where the increasing confinement of human awareness to a there is no air, there can be no light. Furthermore, where computer-mediated experiential world, are dominant there is no air, there can be no life. Recent research has features. It is the implementation of this new order that confirmed that the Earth’s stratosphere does support demands the expansion and refinement of the electronic life of a very humble kind – simple and very hardy ecosystem, which – with insidious purposefulness microbes, which are capable of withstanding the harsh – seeks to displace the natural ecosystem. There is conditions of life at such a high altitude. But where the something brutal at work here, which has no regard for stratosphere comes to an end, we reach the altitudinal what is living, and the conditions that are needed for life limit of life on our planet.14 Crossing the threshold to the to flourish. ionosphere, we enter a domain not only where darkness

New View 69 overcomes light, but also where the life-supportive wilful destruction of ecosystems and the mass extinction energies of the Earth organism finally end, and lifeless of species. And yet there is a widespread belief today forces henceforth prevail. In a lecture given in 1924, that the forces of electricity and magnetism are essential Rudolf Steiner gave the following esoteric explanation building blocks for the future of civilisation. Despite for why the sky appears to us as blue when we look at the assurances given to us by the companies driving the it from the Earth: what we are perceiving is in reality Fourth Industrial Revolution that nature will be saved the outermost extent of the Earth’s etheric body, within by more data collection, surveillance and monitoring, which all life exists. It is a spiritual perception of the it is hardly more computing power that is needed. What Earth’s etheric sheath.15 is actually needed is a change of heart, so that we free Beyond the etheric sheath, the atmosphere gives ourselves from the seduction of the algorithm and the way to what is called “plasma”. Plasma is known exhilaration of technological conquest and monetary in physics as the “fourth state of matter”, for it is profit. neither solid, liquid nor strictly gaseous. Whereas the As the conditions of life on Earth are increasingly air is a natural electrical insulator, plasma is highly overshadowed by forces which originate from the sub- conductive, and its behaviour is therefore determined natural realm, we have without doubt to redouble our by electrical and magnetic forces. We may think of it efforts to counteract them with forces that build up life as matter that has come entirely under the dominion of and health. It is of utmost importance that we nurture all the forces of electricity, which act upon it to produce that is life-giving and life-enhancing, so as to strengthen constantly shifting electrical fields and currents. These nature’s resilience. The more human consciousness is we are made aware of in the eerie lights of the Aurora, lured away from nature, and we allow our attention which become manifest within the ionosphere. In the to be constantly claimed by the electronic world, the lights of the Aurora, we witness something immensely more we shall see the life of nature drain away, and the impressive, but at the same time disturbingly alien. It more we ourselves shall fall away from the realisation is an experience of light which is not the light of day, of our deeper human purpose. Nature needs the reverent and it is incapable of being the bearer of the energies attentiveness and loving care that only human beings of life. The light of the Aurora is the product of purely can bestow, just as surely as human beings need to electrical forces. According to Steiner, electricity does bestow these gifts upon nature. not strictly belong to the domain of nature but to sub- Our collective tilt towards sub-nature has led us nature.16 If matter falls under the dominion of electricity to neglect our obligations towards living nature. The within the ionosphere, it is because the forces of life very idea of making the planet “smart” by harnessing have completely withdrawn from that region, and it has everything to the electronic information system – even sunk beneath the level of living nature. the soil, crops and animals in the so-called “smart farm” It is, then, as if by a homing instinct, that the – is a negation not just of the living spirit in nature, but technological consciousness of modern humanity seeks of humanity’s spiritual purpose in the cosmic order. For to colonise precisely this region with its orbiting satellite there are deeper purposes to which we should attend, stations, under the delusion that its conquest will that set us into a relationship of mutual communion and produce vast profits. Only the uppermost of the proposed co-operation with the spiritual powers that give life to Starlink constellations lies beyond the ionosphere in the the world in which we live. It is these life-giving powers lower reaches of the magnetosphere – the outermost that we should be working with, so that we create a extent of the Earth’s magnetic field – where the forces more intimate bond with them for the sake of the future of magnetism (which, according to Steiner, belong to of the Earth. a deeper level of sub-nature) predominate. To weave the radiation nets of the satellite fleets within these Jeremy Naydler lives in Oxford, England. two spheres could be seen as binding both realms of sub-nature more closely to the Earth. By laying claim to these regions which lie beyond the Earth’s etheric Endnotes boundary, the technological consciousness incorporates 1. The first two constellations will use Super High Frequencies of between 10 GHz and 30 GHz, while the them into its project to bring the Earth’s natural third constellation of 7,500 satellites will use Extremely ecosystems under the yoke of an all-embracing global High Frequencies of between 40 GHz and 75 GHz. electronic ecosystem. Thereby, the knot of the sub- Extremely High Frequencies have wavelengths so tiny natural is tightened around the Earth, the better to aid that they are measured in millimetres. 17 the planet’s transformation into a vast computer. 2. For the effects on living organisms, see the website of The Environmental Health Trust at https// ehtrust.org. The Future of Life on Earth For the health effects on human beings, see the website There are few people today who are unaware of the slow- of Physicians for Safe Technology at https// mdsafetech. motion catastrophe that is befalling the Earth, due to the org.

New View 70 3. Tirkel, A. Z. ‘Effects of Millimeter Wave Exposure has plans for a further 640. India has two small on Termite Behavior’. Progress in Electromagnetic constellations of communication and remote sensing Research Symposium Proceedings, Marrakesh, satellites, with plans to launch more. Morocco, (March 20-23, 2011), pp.1581-1585. 10. Interview with Evan Davis, on “The Satellite Business”, Thielens, Arno et al. ‘Exposure of Insects to Radio- The Bottom Line, Radio 4, March 4th, 2021. Frequency Electromagnetic Fields from 2 to 120 GHz’. 11. Michael Sheetz, “An investor’s guide to space, Nature, 8: 3924 (2018). Wall Street’s next trillion-dollar industry”, CNBC 4. Pakhomov, Andrei et al. ‘Current State and Implications (November 9th, 2019), https:/cnbc.com/2019/11/09/ of Research on Biological Effects of Millimeter Waves: how-to-invest-in-space-companies-complete-guide-to- A Review of the Literature’. McKesson BioServices, rockets-satellites-and-more.html 1997, https:/rife.org/otherresearch/millimeterwaves. 12. “UK government secures satellite network OneWeb” 5. On the terrestrial use of phased array transmission, see Gov.UK, 20th November, 2020. https://gov.uk/ Oughstun, Kurt. Interview on ‘Brillouin Precursors’, government/news/uk-government-secures-satellite- Microwave News, 22, 2 (2002). On phased array network-oneweb transmission of millimetre waves from satellites, see 13. J. A. Dallas et al., “The environmental impact of emissions Kositsky, Nikolai et al. ‘Influence of High-frequency from space launches: A comprehensive review” Journal Electromagnetic Radiation at Non-thermal Intensities of Cleaner Production, 255 (10 May, 2020). on the Human Body’ (2000). Translated in No Place To 14. Priya DasSarma and Shiladitya DasSarma, “Survival of Hide – Newsletter of the Cellular Phone Taskforce Inc., Microbes in Earth’s Stratosphere”, Current Opinion in Volume 3, Number 1 – Supplement, February 2001. Microbiology, 43 (June 2018), pp.24-30. 6. John Keller, “What 5G Means to the Military”, 15. “The Whitsuntide Festival: Its Place in the Study Military and Aerospace Electronics (December 2nd, of Karma”, Dornach, June 4th, 1924, in Rudolf 2020). https://militaryaerospace.com/rf-analog/ Steiner, The Festivals and their Meaning (London: article/14188341/military-5g-communications. See Anthroposophical Publishing Company, 1958). also Manilo Dinucci, “The Hidden Military Use of 5G 16. As Steiner explains in Answers to Questions at the end Technology” Telesure, (December 21st, 2019). https:// of his lecture, given in Basle on October 1st, 1911, telesurenglish.net/opinion/The-Hidden-Military-Use- The Etherisation of the Blood (London: Rudolf Steiner of-5G-Technology-20191221-0006.html Press, 1971). 7. Some are well-established, like Iridium, SES and 17. This is not to suggest that these regions in which sub- Telesat, which between them operate well over four natural forces prevail have no part to play in the ecology hundred satellites. A major rival to SpaceX is One Web, of the greater planetary organism. The magnetic field now partly owned by the UK government, which is which pervades the magnetosphere acts as a first line currently assembling a constellation of six hundred and of defence against cosmic and solar rays, deflecting, fifty satellites to provide global internet broadband. In trapping and filtering the high energy solar and cosmic May, 2020, One Web filed an application to put a further radiation that constantly streams towards the Earth. forty-eight thousand satellites into space, only to retract Likewise, the intense electrical activity that takes it in January 2021, reducing the number to a mere 6,372 place within the ionosphere renders harmless much satellites. Another rival to SpaceX is Amazon’s Kuiper of the radiation that slips through the magnetosphere Systems, which is aiming for a constellation of 3,236 by absorbing and neutralising it through the constant satellites. splitting apart and recombination of positively and 8. Curzi, G. et al. ‘Large Constellations of Small negatively charged particles. Both regions should be Satellites: A Survey of Near Future Challenges and thought of as in themselves life-defending, but not as Missions’. Aerospace (2020) 7, 133. The Internet of life-giving, for while they may lie above the realm of Things will be serviced at lower frequencies of between life in altitude, energetically they lie beneath it. 1GHz and 4Ghz. 9. For China, see “China pushes ahead with giant 13,000 Jeremy Naydler is author of The Struggle for a satellite LEO constellation”, SpaceWatch.Global, 4th Human Future (Temple Lodge, 2020) and Gardening October, 2020. Russia currently has 169 operational as a Sacred Art (Temple Lodge, 2011). satellites, and the Russian Space Agency, ‘Roscosmos’,

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