Given the rate at which SpaceX is launching satellites, the satellites destroyed by the storm are not a major setback for the company.
Last week, a geomagnetic storm caused the fall of 40 Starlink satellites of SpaceX launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on February 3, shortly following being deployed from one of the Falcon 9 rockets of the company.
Images have now emerged showing one or more of the satellites intended for high-speed internet burning in the skies of Puerto Rico by falling low enough to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere.
According to Euronews, a camera operated by the Caribbean Astronomy Society (SAC), a non-profit organization, caught streaks of fire in the night sky around 2:40 a.m.local time, on February 7.
geomagnetic storm
The satellites were surprised by the geomagnetic storm –caused by emissions from the solar corona into space– before they had the opportunity to slowly increase its altitude to reach its final orbit. Geomagnetic storms cause disturbances in the upper part of the Earth’s atmosphere and increase the drag of objects to low orbits.
Although SpaceX has not confirmed whether the object – or objects – caught on camera they were their satellitesthe company has published an explanation of what went wrong.
“SpaceX deploys its satellites in these lower orbits so that, in the very rare event that a satellite fails initial system checks, it will rapidly deorbit from atmospheric drag,” according to a SpaceX statement.
Fortunately, the hundreds of kilos of satellites “they pose zero risk of collision with other satellites”, depending on the company. Since they burn up completely in orbit, “no orbital debris is created and no part of the satellite touches the ground,” they added.
German wave
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SpaceX loses dozens of Starlink satellites due to the impact of a strong geomagnetic storm
Miles of Starlink SpaceX Satellites has successfully launched more than 1,800 Starlink broadband internet satellites that to date. The failed launch earlier this month was the company’s third this year alone.
The first batch was launched in May 2019 and currently SpaceX has regulatory approval to ship 12,000with plans for even more expansion, which might cloud the night sky and make astronomical observations considerably more difficult.
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