Posted: 20:03, September 16, 2022 | Updated: 20:04, 16 September 2022
A solar ‘disaster event’ earlier this year destroyed 38 of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites – costing his company tens of millions of dollars in damages. SpaceX launched 49 low-latency Internet satellites into space from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 3 — seemingly without incident at first. Around the same time, a massive wave of solar particles and radiation overtook the Earth. A solar “disaster event” earlier this year destroyed nearly 40 of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites – costing his company tens of millions of dollars in damages. Above: An illustration of a coronal mass ejection affecting Earth’s atmosphere This wave was triggered by an explosion on the sun’s surface – commonly called solar flares or coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – which are part of space weather. After reaching our planet, the solar material heated our atmosphere and increased the density of the small amounts of air at the 130-mile altitude where the Starlink satellites had been sent. Small satellites were supposed to go several hundred miles higher, but that didn’t happen because of atmospheric drag — which increased by at least 60 percent according to a study by American and Chinese researchers. “This event highlights the urgent requirements for better understanding and accurate prediction of space weather as well as collaborations between industry and the space weather community,” the researchers wrote. SpaceX launched 49 low-latency Internet satellites into space from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 3 — seemingly uneventful at first Thirty-eight of the Starlink satellites sank lower and lower – before burning up at thousands of miles per hour. The study also found that the financial loss to SpaceX from the solar storm would be “several tens of millions of dollars.” “We have visualized the solar flare, the propagation of the solar wind, and the enhancement of the atmospheric density, using both observed data and model simulations,” the study says. Still, the satellites, each weighing about 570 pounds, posed no danger to anyone on the ground. “De-orbiting satellites pose zero risk of collision with other satellites and are designed to be destroyed during atmospheric re-entry—meaning no orbital debris is created and no satellite parts hit the ground,” SpaceX said in a statement at the time. time. SpaceX has over 3,000 satellites in orbit and plans to launch thousands more. On September 10, Musk’s company launched 34 Starlink satellites into orbit aboard a Falcon 9 that lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center. Thirty-eight of the Starlink satellites sank lower and lower – before burning up at thousands of miles per hour. Above: A burst of solar material erupting from the sun’s right side surface, 2012.
ELON MUSK’S SPACEX BRINGING BROADBAND TO THE WORLD WITH STARLINK CONSTELLATION OF SATELLITES
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has launched more than 3,000 “Starlink” space internet satellites into orbit and hopes to have 30,000 in the sky. They are a constellation designed to provide cheap broadband internet service from low Earth orbit. While satellite internet has been around for a while, it has suffered from high latency and unreliable connections. Starlink is different. SpaceX said its goal is to provide high-speed, low-latency internet around the world – especially in remote areas. Musk previously said the venture could give three billion people who currently don’t have internet access an inexpensive way to get online. It will also help finance a future city on Mars. Helping humanity reach the Red Planet and become multiplanetary is one of Musk’s long-term goals, and it was what inspired him to start SpaceX. However, astronomers have raised concerns about light pollution and other interference from these satellite constellations.
