Star light, star bright, the first star I see tonight ... may actually be a high-tech satellite owned by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk.

Musk’s controversial plan to seed the sky with a network of satellites to create the “world’s most advanced broadband internet system” that would, among other things, help connect remote communities such as the Canadian Arctic, is well underway. Last week, SpaceX, his company, launched its fourth batch of satellites into orbit.

There are currently more than 2,000 satellites spinning around us — many visible to someone standing on Earth as moving blips of light. SpaceX plans to add another 12,000 satellites over the next few years, creating a constellation of satellites called Starlink. And they’re just one company. Looking at the night sky may be one of the few things uniting everyone on Earth and astronomers around the world are currently fighting Musk’s plan, which they say will stifle science and change the sky as we know it.

SpaceX is targeting Wednesday, January 29 at 9:09 a.m. EST, or 14:09 UTC, for its fourth launch of Starlink satellites from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

“I think of it as being like, if you just suddenly said, ‘Hey ... in order to make a profit, I’m going to just destroy all flowers and make them so that people can’t see flowers anymore,’ ” explained Sharon Morsink, a physics professor who oversees the observatory at the University of Alberta.

“You could say, ‘Well, OK, maybe we didn’t really need the flowers,’ but there’s a certain quality of life that you’re losing from that.”

Concerns from the scientific community about the brightness of the satellites aren’t lost on SpaceX, and the company has begun testing a dark coating on some of their satellites, which they hope will make the satellites less visible. Still, some astronomers are reportedly mulling legal action over the plan, as experts in space law say we have yet to come up with a global way to regulate the new private satellite space race.

“I think the point to be made here is it’s a national process rather than an international one. Even though the impacts are global,” said Michael Byers, a professor of international politics at the University of British Columbia.

Right now, if you want to follow in Musk’s footsteps and launch a satellite into space, the process is pricey, but fairly straightforward.

First, you have to seek approval from the launch country, which gives you a licence for your satellite. SpaceX launches out of Florida, and has been given the green light by the American Federal Communications Commission.

Next, your satellite has to be registered with the International Telecommunications Union, which will assign you a specific slot if you’re planning to put your satellite into high orbit. This is not legally binding, but countries tend to follow assignments so their satellites don’t interfere with each other. The lower orbit — where Musk’s satellites will be — doesn’t have assigned slots. Lower orbit tends to be less popular, however, agencies are concerned that could change, necessitating more oversight.

Once these concerns have been met, you’re off to the space races.

There are also some global organizations that keep an eye on things up there, among them, the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. Created in the 1950s after the launch of Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite, the agency was set up to govern the exploration and use of space for the benefit of all humanity. It released a new set of guidelines last year. There’s also the Inter-Agency Space Debris Co-ordination Committee, which has representatives from national space agencies and militaries around the world, and tries to stay on top of space garbage.

But questions such as how many satellites should be in the sky, how to police satellite traffic and what should be done about light pollution — which is what makes it difficult to see the stars in the sky — are still sorted out informally.

As more tech companies look skyward, Byers says countries are scrambling to sort out a better regulatory system. “It’s a challenge for these international mechanisms to keep up.”

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“Musk is the great disrupter. Just like he disrupted global transportation with electric cars, he’s now disrupting global communications with Starlink and that could be a very good thing,” he said.

“He’s forcing established institutions to get moving, to grapple with the new world he’s creating.”

Byers said it’s also important to not lose sight of the fact that these satellites will be a “game-changer” for remote communities around the world, including the Canadian Arctic, which could receive consistent internet access for the first time.

Satellites aren’t cheap — in 2018, a company executive estimated Starlink would cost $10 billion or more. Still, there are a handful of other well-heeled technology companies who have started or announced plans to join SpaceX in its endeavours.

Global communications company OneWeb is eyeing its own constellation of satellites, launching its first six last year. Its next batch of 34 satellites is scheduled to launch from Kazakhstan later this week. Amazon announced plans for its own network of satellites this summer.

All this new traffic in space raises very real scientific concerns, Morsink explained. For example, there are astronomers who are currently looking for objects near the Earth, things like “asteroids, which could smash into the Earth and caused mass extinctions sort of like what happened to the dinosaurs.”

But if there are thousands of satellites crowding their field of vision it becomes impossible to keep track of any new or moving objects.

As the sky gets busier, it will also be harder for amateur astronomers to understand what’s going on, Morsink said. Even the average person gazing skyward will see a “drastically” different sky.

Ram Jakhu, an associate professor at McGill’s Institute of Air and Space Law, said that currently, when somebody seeks approval to launch satellites into space, they are mostly evaluated based on whether they harm the environment or human health, or if they interfere with other satellites.

He said the challenge in creating new rules will be in making sure everyone’s interests are represented — not just those of billionaires who own satellite companies.

After all, “the satellite communication industry is very vocal, very powerful, very rich, and people need communications.”

It’s especially notable that astronomers are currently struggling to be heard, he said, given that companies like SpaceX would not exist without them and the scientific history and understanding of space they pioneered.

“Everything cannot and should not be looked at only in the sense of dollars and cents.”

With files from The Associated Press

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