Spacex's newest fleet of satellite is tumbling out of orbit after being struck by asolat storm. Up to 40 of the 49 small satellites launched last week either reentered the atmosphere and burned up, or are on the verge of doing so, the company said in an online update Tuesday night.
Spacex said a Geomagnetic storm last Friday made the atmosphere denser, which increased the drag on the Starlink satellites, effectively them.
The satellites hit by the solar storm were in a temporary position. Spacex deliberately launches them into this unusually low orbit so thatany duds can quickly re-enter the atmosphere and pose no threat to other spacecraft. There is no danger from these newly falling satellites, either in orbit or ground, according to the company. Each satellite weighs less than 575 pounds ( 260 kilograms).
Spacex described the lost satellites as a "Unique situation". Such geomagnetic storms are caused by intense solar activity like flares, which can send streams of plasama from the sun's corona hurtling out into space and toward Earth. Onboard GPS suggests the escalation speed and severity of the storm caused atmospheric drag to increase upto 50% higher than during previous launches, Spacex said. Spacex tried to put the satellites into a"safe mode", turning them to fly edge-on to minimise drag.
The drag was strong enough to stop the satellites ever getting out of that "safe mode" And back into the orbit they needed to reach to be stable. Instead, "up to 40" Will fall back into the Earth's atmosphere and burn up. Jacob Geer, the UK Space Agency's Head of Space surveillance, said he does not expect "any part"of the satellites to hit the ground. " Events like this are a reminder that space is challenging- getting satellites or astronauts into orbit is still not easy", he said.
"This unique situation demonstrates the great lengths the Starlink team has gone to ensure the system is on the leading edge of an orbit debris mitigation. - Spacex