Documents / Official release
This information paper from the Department of Defense's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) is dated December 2024 and was released in full in February 2025. It explains how sunlight reflecting off Starlink and other low Earth orbit satellites produces bright flares and satellite trains that observers can mistake for UAP. It gives step-by-step methods for predicting flare windows from the ground and from aircraft. It concludes that lights reported by an airline pilot near Gallup, New Mexico, in October 2022 were very likely satellite flares.
“Low Earth orbit”4 pages
All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) 4 dozens of small satellites during a single launch event. Immediately following a launch, and for several days afterward, these satellites form a distinctive line of bright objects before fading as they ascend to their final orbital positions. Figure 5 below provides examples of each flare scenario. Figure 4: Rendering of Starlink satellite noting the satellite’s bus and solar panel components. Adapted from [5]. Starlink satellites transition through three orbital phases on their way to their final orbit, with each phase creating a different visual phenomenology to ground observers. During the launch phase, dozens of satellites, with their solar panels folded, are loaded in large groups on the rocket delivery vehicle. Once the delivery vehicle arrives to an initial position in LEO, the satellites separate and unfold their solar panels. Figure 5: (a) photo of a string of Starlink satellites called “Starlink trains” not long after launch on 29 August 2022 [6]; and (b) photo taken by AARO personnel of a satellite flare at peak intensity for a Starlink satellite, which illustrates how much brighter Starlink flares can be than surrounding stars. Photo taken before sunrise on March 11, 2024 near Sidney, Nebraska. Camera settings: [7]027Page determined to be Unclassified Reviewed by Chief of Staff, AARO IAW FY24 NDAA, Section 1841(a)(1)(C) Date: 2/14/2025
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Official release, from the nara collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 18 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.