{"id":249683,"date":"2022-02-17T08:28:05","date_gmt":"2022-02-17T08:28:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=249683"},"modified":"2022-02-19T07:31:36","modified_gmt":"2022-02-19T07:31:36","slug":"why-spacex-lost-up-to-40-starlink-satellites-in-a-solar-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=249683","title":{"rendered":"Why SpaceX Lost \u2018Up to 40\u2019 Starlink Satellites in a Solar Storm"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction \u2013 Feb 16, 2022<\/strong><\/h1>\n

With the launch of dozens of Starlink satellites, Elon Musk had planned to massively increase 5G coverage. A combination of ground based relay stations, antenna and satellites would have enabled Musk to reach areas of the globe hitherto untouched by 5G.<\/p>\n

What has happened though will come as a relief to those who were concerned about the adverse impact of increased 5G coverage<\/a>. At least for now, a space storm has knocked out as many as 40 of Musk\u2019s recently launched Starlink satellites, which would have increased 5G’s reach across the globe.<\/p>\n

Now many of them have been permanently rendered into space junk.<\/p>\n

This will also come as a relief to many airlines as scores of flights were cancelled over concerns that the increased 5G would interfere with flight instruments<\/a>.<\/p>\n

No doubt technicians and scientists are working overtime to get replacement satellites aloft. That will take time however, and if this happens again we will know that the heavens have conspired against Elon Musk\u2019s ambitions.<\/p>\n

We hope and pray that it will be so. Ed.<\/p>\n

Why SpaceX Lost \u2018Up to 40\u2019 Starlink Satellites in a Solar Storm<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Jennifer Leman \u2013 Popular Mechanics Feb 9, 2022<\/strong><\/h3>\n

SpaceX has lost nearly all of the Starlink satellites it launched last week due to a solar storm, according to a February 8 statement<\/a> from the company.<\/p>\n

On February 3, the Elon Musk-led areospace company launched 49 of its Starlink satellites from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida atop a Falcon 9 rocket<\/a>. Shortly after launch, the satellites deployed into their initial orbit roughly 130 miles above Earth’s surface (SpaceX places them in a low orbit in the event that they suffer a malfunction and need to be de-orbited quickly). The satellites, operating normally, were scheduled to lift to a higher orbit.<\/p>\n

A geomagnetic storm<\/a> that swept over Earth on Friday had other plans.<\/p>\n

Geomagnetic storms form when a gust of plasma-rich solar wind, also called a coronal mass ejection, sweeps through Earth’s magnetic field. These periodic storms<\/a> can warm Earth’s atmosphere, increasing atmospheric density (and drag) at lower orbits. The sudden jump in atmospheric drag can be fatal for satellites in these orbits. Unable to maintain their position in orbit, they eventually burn up in reentry. According to the satellites’ onboard GPS data, “the escalation speed and severity of the storm caused atmospheric drag to increase up to 50 percent higher than during previous launches,” per SpaceX’s statement.<\/p>\n

Once the company identified the issue, it placed the affected satellites in “safe mode,” repositioning them to fly edge-on in an effort to reduce drag. It also worked with the Space Force’s<\/a> 18th Space Control Squadron\u2014which monitors Earth’s orbit for possible collisions from their California headquarters at Vandenberg Space Force Base\u2014and the California-based space junk tracking firm LeoLabs to scan the disabled satellites’ orbit using ground-based radar.<\/p>\n

“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,” SpaceX said in its statement.<\/p>\n

The disabled Starlink satellites, set to join the company’s fleet of more than 1,800 satellites already in orbit, are not a threat to nearby satellites and will burn up during reentry. While a dramatic end to the mission, it’s not a total loss for the project. SpaceX plans to add tens of thousands satellites to its constellation in an effort to improve high-speed internet access around the world.<\/p>\n

In severe cases, space weather can interfere with the electrical systems in satellites and disable them. (That doesn’t seem to be the case here, though.) For example, a burst of cosmic radiation doomed the KickSat mission<\/a> in 2014 when it reset the master clock<\/a> within the thumbnail-sized satellites’ dispenser.<\/p>\n

Space weather also poses a risk to Earth’s communication and navigation systems and can weaken the power grid. One such storm, 1859’s Carrington Event<\/a>, zapped telegraph wires, sparking fires around the world. NASA and other agencies around the world monitor space weather in an effort to forecast such events and develop technology designed to better withstand them. There’s no word on whether SpaceX anticipated this issue.<\/p>\n

It seems SpaceX’s satellites were simply in the wrong orbit at the wrong time.<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Plans by Elon Musk to increase 5G coverage with satellites have been put on hold following a space storm, which knocked out as many as 40 recently launched satellites<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":249687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[106,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-249683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-5g","category-Current_Affairs"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=249683"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":249693,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249683\/revisions\/249693"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/249687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=249683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=249683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=249683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}