SpaceX Suffers the Loss of 40 Starlink Satellites Due to Geomagnetic Storm

The Starlink internet satellites, which were just launched on a Falcon 9 last week, on February 3, seemed to have to stop their journey to their intended orbits. SpaceX confirmed that a geomagnetic storm that occurred a day after the launch severely impacted the Starlink satellites.

A geomagnetic storm is a solar wind shock wave and/or magnetic field cloud colliding with the Earth’s magnetic field that causes a disruption in the magnetosphere.

The storm warmed up the atmosphere and increased the atmospheric drag – the friction that acts against the movement of the satellites. Though SpaceX has tried to put the recently launched satellites into safe mode, by adjusting their movements to fly edge-on, like a sheet of paper, the increased drag thwarted it.

SpaceX convinces there will be no orbital debris of Starlink satellites

According to the company, up to 40 of the satellites will return or have already reentered the Earth’s atmosphere. However, SpaceX believes the Starlink internet satellites that fail to reach their orbits will completely burn up when they re-enter Earth’s atmosphere, so they won’t leave any orbital debris.

“This unique situation demonstrates the great lengths the Starlink team has gone to ensure the system is on the leading edge of on-orbit debris mitigation,” wrote SpaceX on its update page, Feb. 8.

“The deorbiting satellites pose zero collision risk with other satellites and by design demise upon atmospheric reentry — meaning no orbital debris is created and no satellite parts hit the ground,” the company said.

SpaceX seems to recognize that the astronomy community is starting to become concerned with space junk, especially since astronomers have raised criticisms regarding the Starlink project related to the giant constellation’s influence on astronomical observations.

Since 2019, SpaceX has launched a huge number of Starlink satellites — which worry astronomers around the globe — with the goal of one day being able to launch 40,000 internet satellites into orbit. The objective is to provide high-speed internet connections throughout the world, including underprivileged areas.

Looks like SpaceX has recently been dealing with a number of issues related to its property, like the one about its old Falcon 9 rocket, which has been reported to be colliding with the Moon within weeks.