Elon Musk’s SpaceX has lost 40 of the 49 high-speed internet satellites after they were hit by a geomagnetic storm on February 4. The satellites were part of SpaceX’s Starlink project through which Musk plans to provide an internet-from-space service using thousands of orbiting satellites.

The incident occurred a day after the 49 satellites were deployed about 210 km above Earth’s surface. SpaceX said the satellites had achieved controlled flight after the launch.

Also read: NASA raises concerns about SpaceX satellite deployment plan

The incident could be the largest collective loss of satellites from a single geomagnetic event, Hindustan Times quoted Harvard-Smithsonian astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell as saying.

What is a geomagnetic storm?

A geomagnetic storm is a space weather event which occurs when eruptions such as solar flares emanate from the Sun's surface following a powerful explosion. Such eruptions send waves of plasma and magnetic particles through space, that can hit the Earth, disrupt satellites and interfere with power grids and other electronic infrastructure.

"These storms cause the atmosphere to warm and atmospheric density at our low deployment altitudes to increase,” SpaceX said in a statement. Recently, SpaceX was in Fiji establishing a station that would help reconnect Tonga through its satellites

What happened on Friday?

On Friday, February 3, SpaceX launched 49 satellites from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard one of its Falcon 9 rockets. The satellites were placed at the initial orbit closer to Earth to carry out final checks before flying them into space.

The following day, a geomagnetic storm caused the atmosphere to warm up, which increased the atmospheric drag or friction against the motion of satellites up to 50 percent higher than previous launches, the SpaceX statement said.

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The SpaceX team adjusted the positions of the spacecraft to shield them from the storm and minimise the drag. However, further assessments showed that it would not be able to raise several of these satellites into their higher, operational orbits. As a result, the company brought 40 satellites into the Earth’s atmosphere. The company said it does not expect any debris to hit the ground.

Starlink has a total of 1,915 satellites in the orbit at present for his satellite internet project. Hence the loss of 40 “is not a big deal from their point of view,” McDowell told The New York Times.

They will get worse, say experts

Although these storms are not uncommon, space weather experts believe they will worsen over the next few years.

Also read: Elon Musk’s Starlink aims for 2 lakh broadband terminals in India by end of 2022

In December 2019, the Sun entered a new 11-year solar cycle and is now getting close to the ‘solar maximum’ or greatest solar activity, which is expected to hit in 2025. The solar cycle usually takes about 11 years to go from one solar maximum to the next, with durations observed varying from 9 to 14 years.

“The reason why

As a result of the solar minimum in the recent past, there has been a massive spike in the number of satellites launched in the low Earth orbit (LEO).

Also read: Explained: Largest solar flare in 4 years causes short radio blackout on Earth

According to analysis by engineering firm Bryce Tech, around 4,000 small satellites have been launched in the past four years, a majority of which are operating in low orbits, CNBC reported.

(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)

First Published:Feb 10, 2022 8:40 PM IST