The newly launched Starlink satellites can almost certainly be considered lost.

SpaceX is now experiencing the fact that our sun can be quite turbulent at times. In early February, millionaire Elon Musk’s company launched 49 Starlink satellites. Shortly afterwards, however, a geomagnetic storm threw a spanner in the works, causing probably 40 satellites to fall back into Earth’s atmosphere, now unknowingly.

Starlink satellites

SpaceX is still expanding its fleet of Starlink satellites. The intention is that eventually thousands of satellites orbit the Earth, providing internet access even in densely populated areas. In early February, another 49 satellites, propelled by a Falcon 9 rocket, took to the skies. The satellites were successfully dropped in their intended orbit about 210 kilometers above the Earth’s surface. “Each satellite achieved a controlled flight,” SpaceX said.

Low track
The fact that the satellites are deposited at an altitude of only 210 kilometers above the earth’s surface can easily be explained. SpaceX deploys its satellites in these lower orbits, in case something goes wrong. In that case, the defunct satellite in question can be quickly taken out of orbit by atmospheric drag.

But just a day later, the unforeseen happened. The satellites suddenly had to deal with an unexpected geomagnetic storm.

Geomagnetic storm

A geomagnetic storm is actually a temporary disturbance in the Earth’s magnetic field. This can be caused by solar flares from the sun. When a shock wave from solar wind reaches Earth’s ionosphere, a geomagnetic storm can loom. These storms cause Earth’s atmosphere to warm and atmospheric densities at lower elevations — such as the orbit where SpaceX deposits its starlink satellites — increase. And how. GPS data has shown that the severity of the recent storm caused air resistance to be as much as 50 percent higher than during previous launches.

Safe mode
The team immediately put the satellites into ‘safe mode’. In this mode, the satellites fly in a similar way to a sheet of paper floating through the air, in order to reduce air resistance. The engineers hoped in this way to ‘take cover’ from the storm.

Lost

Unfortunately, it did not lead to the hoped-for result. A preliminary analysis shows that the increased drag at the low altitudes prevented the satellites from coming out of safe mode and climbing to higher altitudes. And so probably 40 satellites will have to be considered lost.

No risks

These satellites are expected to fall back into Earth’s atmosphere – or have already done so – and burn up here. SpaceX emphasizes that there are no collision risks. In addition, no orbital debris is created and no parts can touch the ground, they say.

SpaceX has come under fire several times over the Starlink satellites. For example, astronomers are concerned about the pollution caused by these types of satellite constellations. The satellites can be extremely annoying for telescopes with which many astronomers try to fathom the universe. In addition, a Starlink satellite has already been on a collision course with an ESA weather satellite and Musk’s satellites have twice threatened the Chinese space station. Experts also fear that the satellites will cause even more space debris. SpaceX, meanwhile, is working on solutions. By providing the Starlink satellites with a dark coating, for example, they look a lot less bright. In addition, at least the recently defunct satellites won’t cause clutter. “This unique situation demonstrates the great efforts the Starlink team has made to ensure that the system is at the forefront of reducing space debris,” said SpaceX.