Of the 49 satellites SpaceX launched on February 3, nearly 40 were affected by a large geomagnetic storm and were unable to climb into orbit. SpaceX announced that these satellites will re-enter the atmosphere and will burn to death.
SpaceX, the space company of which Elon Musk is the CEO, has so far been within the scope of the Starlink project. More than 2,000 satellites placed in low orbit. While the company’s overall goal is to reach 42,000 satellites, astronomers continue to take action against SpaceX and other planned future projects. Today it will give astronomers more power, A development that will upset SpaceX it happened.
Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites were recently subjected to a major geomagnetic storm. The storm was launched on February 3 and is in the process of entering orbit. Affected an estimated 40 out of 49 Starlink satellites. According to the statement, the storm caused the satellites to be exposed to 50% more frictional force. Therefore, satellites they couldn’t reach the orbit they were supposed to.
Nearly 40 Starlink satellites will be destroyed
Although Starlink tried a different flight method to combat this friction force, bad news was shared. SpaceX, in the statement it shared, has nearly 40 satellites. He declared that it has re-entered or will re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere and will be destroyed by burning.. The relevant part of the statement by SpaceX was as follows:
“Preliminary analyzes show that increased friction at low altitudes is preventing satellites from exiting safe mode to begin orbital elevation maneuvers, and that as many as 40 satellites will re-enter or have already re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere. Satellites leaving orbit have zero risk of collision with other satellites and are by design destroyed on atmospheric reentry; that is, no orbital debris is formed and no satellite fragments hit the ground. This unique case demonstrates how hard the Starlink team has worked to ensure that the system is a pioneer in orbital debris reduction.”
As you can see from the last sentence, SpaceX has recently responded to a point of departure for astronomers against orbiting satellites. Astronomers were explaining that thousands of satellites sent into space would form a satellite dump in the future. SpaceX, on the other hand, He did not comment on the discussion that astronomical observations would be blocked..
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Source :
https://www.theverge.com/2022/2/8/22924561/spacex-starlink-satellites-geomagnetic-storm