Geomagnetic storm forces 40 Starlink broadband satellites to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere
Elon Musk’s satellite broadband project, Starlink, has lost up to 40 satellites after they were damaged in a geomagnetic storm.
Starlink puts new batches of 60 satellites into Low Earth Orbit approximately every 2-3 weeks. However, satellites from a recent launch were caught up in a geomagnetic storm that didn’t allow them to reach their regular orbiting altitude, resulting in them burning up in the Earth’s atmosphere. “Unfortunately, the satellites deployed on Thursday [February 3] were significantly impacted by a geomagnetic storm on Friday,” Starlink explains in a“These storms cause the atmosphere to warm and atmospheric density at our low deployment altitudes to increase. In fact, onboard GPS suggests the escalation speed and severity of the storm caused atmospheric drag to increase up to 50 percent higher than during previous launches.
Starlink placed the storm-hit satellites into ‘safe-mode’, during which the satellites fly edge-on - like a sheet of paper - so as to minimize the amount of drag they create. Alas, this wasn’t enough to prevent the satellites from being lost. “Preliminary analysis show the increased drag at the low altitudes prevented the satellites from leaving safe-mode to begin orbit raising maneuvers, and up to 40 of the satellites will reenter or already have reentered the Earth’s atmosphere,” the company explained.
Ireland Latest News, Ireland Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
SpaceX says a geomagnetic storm just doomed 40 Starlink internet satellitesThe satellites launched on Feb. 3, only to be hit by the storm a day later.
Read more »
SpaceX Losing 40 Starlink Satellites To Geomagnetic StormSpaceX announced today that is in the process of losing up to 40 of its recently launched Starlink satellites due to a geomagnetic storm.
Read more »
SpaceX loses 40 Starlink satellites to a geomagnetic storm | EngadgetAlmost all of the Starlink internet satellites that a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carried beyond the atmosphere on February 3rd won't reach their intended orbit..
Read more »
Minecraft Player Builds Massive Pyramid Containing 40 Different FarmsA dedicated Minecraft player spent 6 months in survival mode constructing a huge pyramid that impressively houses about 40 functional farms.
Read more »
40 Early ‘90s Things That Geriatric Millennials Literally Haven’t Thought About In 20 YearsPut on your Reebok Pumps and take a stroll down forgotten memories lane.
Read more »