The Starlink network of massed satellites all shipped with VisorSat which was designed to make them less shiny to the ground and especially to astronomers' telescopes.

But researchers say the spacecraft's experimental new feature, while helpful, won't fully solve problems posed by the existence of Starlink itself, or other planned thousands strong satellite fleets, for that matter.

SpaceX fitted all 57 of its desk-sized Starlink satellites with a new feature: sun visors or shades.

The visors should deploy after launch and block sunlight from reflecting off the satellites' surfaces — glare that makes Starlink spacecraft appear as bright, moving trails in the night sky that can photobomb telescope observations, blot out faint astronomical objects, and even hinder searches for killer asteroids.

Astronomer Jonathan McDowell said that while the visors will make the satellites less bright, but it won't stop them from interfering with astronomy.

"If you figure out where to put the visors, you should be able to really cut down those reflections. And that will make the satellites no longer naked-eye objects, which is good. It won't, probably, make them so faint that they won't be a problem for professional astronomers."