40 Starlink satellites burned as the atmosphere swelled. Guilty magnetic storm [WIDEO]

On February 3, it launched 49 Starlink satellites. Their launch into orbit had a predictable failure.

Starlink satellites burned down after a magnetic storm

The satellites were to be placed in orbit at an altitude of 210 km. However, 40 of them burned down, and the next ones will most likely suffer the same fate. The reason was that caused the magnetic storm. The same phenomenon is responsible for.

Due to the impact of the intense solar wind, our atmosphere swelled a little. And that was a serious problem for SpaceX

– explained Karol Wójcicki from the fan page “With his head in the stars”, which deals with the observation.

Wójciki explains: “The Starlink satellites at that time were still in the initial and relatively low orbit, had not yet reached their target orbit. As they began to encounter increasingly stronger aerodynamic drag in the swollen atmosphere, there was nothing that could be done about it. Their speed began to decrease, and as a result they began to decrease their altitude more and more rapidly. At one point they were close enough to the Earth that they burned in. “

As Wójcicki adds, the destruction of the satellites could have been avoided, and their launch at that time was irresponsible. The occurrence of a coronary mass ejection was predicted several days earlier.

Starlink, the cosmic internet by Elon Musk

Starlink mini-satellites are to create a global satellite internet network. Global coverage is to be provided by a network of 12 thousand. satellites. Currently, there are over 2,000 in orbit. devices.

In fact, I am impressed that the first Starlinks were lost only as a result of a strong magnetic storm, and not, for example, the failure of the Falcon 9 rocket. This confirms the effectiveness of the solutions used by SpaceX

– comments “Head in the stars”.