At least 40 satellites intended for high-speed internet by SpaceX were thrown out of orbit by a geomagnetic storm just after launch. without this implying a threat to the Earth because they disintegrate in the atmospherereported the company.
Geomagnetic storms are caused by emissions from the solar corona into space, causing disturbances in the upper part of the Earth’s atmosphere and increasing the drag of objects to low orbits.
The 49 most recent satellites of the Starlink network, launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Floridaon February 3, they successfully welcomed their initial orbit with the 210 km high surface approach.
The company placed them in that region to check security measures before sending them further into space.
On February 4, however, the space weather phenomenon hit them, Elon Musk’s company said at the end of Tuesday.
“These storms cause atmospheric heating and atmospheric density at our low takeoff altitudes.. In fact, onboard GPS suggests that the storm’s escalation in speed and severity caused atmospheric drag that was up to 50% higher than previous launches,” he said in a statement.
The Starlink team commanded the satellites into a safety mode, where they could glide like sheets of paper, to minimize drag as they sought shelter from the event.
Despite the evasive maneuver, most were unable to raise their orbit and up to 40 of them “will enter or have already entered the Earth’s atmosphere.”
The company insisted that they represent “zero risk of collision” with other satellites and that they are designed to disintegrate as they re-enter. Debris from these is also not expected to reach the ground.
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Although closely monitoring, the UK Space Agency also agreed there was “virtually no risk” on the ground because the satellites are built without dense metals and their structure should burn out completely. NASA, for its part, has not commented on the event.
Starlink is a “constellation” of more than 2,000 satellites and provides coverage in practically the entire planet.
The first batch was released in May 2019 and SpaceX currently has regulatory approval to send 12,000with plans for further expansion.
Astronomers have expressed concerns about the impact of these satellites on astronomical work in the field as they add a congested spectrum in Low Earth Orbit (OBT or LEO in English).
There are approximately 4,000 active satellites in that region, which extends up to 1,900 km above the surface. There are also some 15,000 pieces of debris from objects such as rocket chassis or defunct probes. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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