Solar storm: Elon Musk loses 40 Starlink satellites in one fell swoop

As is well known, Space X, Elon Musk’s space company, is building a satellite network with Starlink, which will one day provide almost the entire earth with an Internet connection. To do this, Space X is continuously launching new Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit. Most recently, on February 3, 2022, a Falcon 9 rocket launched from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida to launch 49 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit with the “Starlink 4-7 Mission”. The Falcon 9 second stage delivered the satellites into their intended orbit approximately 130 miles above the Earth as planned, and each satellite achieved controlled flight, Space X writes. These 49 satellites were intended to complement the more than 1,800 Starlink satellites currently orbiting the earth. In the final expansion stage, up to 42,000 Starlink satellites will fly around the world.

To be on the safe side, the satellites first fly lower

However, this orbit of just over 200 kilometers is not the final altitude at which the Starlink satellites should actually start operating – it is significantly higher and is over 500 kilometers. But Space X first wants to test in the lower orbit whether the satellites are working properly. Only when this is certain will Space X allow the satellites to rise to the final operational altitude. Because if the satellites don’t work as planned, they can crash relatively easily at an altitude of around 210 kilometers due to the higher air resistance there and dive into the earth’s atmosphere and burn up there. So they would not fly around the earth defectively as space junk. SpaceX emphasizes that while this low altitude mission requires more powerful satellites, which would impose significant costs on SpaceX, it is the right decision to maintain a sustainable space environment.

Solar storm destroys around 40 satellites

But it is precisely this precautionary measure that has now led to the loss of a large part of the recently deployed satellites, according to Space X. Because the satellites put into operation last Thursday were already significantly affected by a geomagnetic storm on Friday, as Space X reports. These storms cause the atmosphere to heat up and increase atmospheric density at low altitudes. Onboard GPS would indicate that the storm’s speed and severity increased atmospheric drag by up to 50 percent compared to previous launches. The Starlink team then placed the satellites in a safe mode to minimize drag.

But preliminary analysis would show that increased drag at low altitudes prevented the satellites from exiting safe mode to begin an orbit-raising maneuver, and that up to 40 of the satellites may or may not have re-entered Earth’s atmosphere have occurred. These satellites pose no risk of collision with other satellites and are destroyed upon re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere, meaning no debris is created in orbit and no satellite parts hit the ground, Space X points out.

Space X is often criticized for its satellites

That Space X emphasizes its commitment to avoiding space debris and to the sustainable use of space does not seem to be entirely coincidental. Because in the past there has always been criticism of Space X’s shirt-sleeved approach to controlling its satellites. The People’s Republic of China even complained to the UN that Starlink satellites had allegedly forced the manned Tiangong space station to perform evasive maneuvers twice. An ESA satellite also had to avoid a Starlink satellite some time earlier.

Background: geomagnetic storms

According to Space.com, geomagnetic storms are caused by intense solar winds that create near-Earth altered currents and plasmas in the Earth’s magnetosphere. This interaction can warm the Earth’s upper atmosphere and increase atmospheric density high enough above the planet to affect low-orbiting satellites such as the Starlink satellites. Friday’s geomagnetic storm followed a solar flare on January 30, 2022 that sent a wave of charged particles toward Earth.