5 days after its launch, a geomagnetic storm drops 40 SpaceX satellites

The possibilities of severe solar explosions increase as the sun approaches its peak activity in a cycle that occurs every 11 years, during which the sun moves between a state of higher activity and a state of lower activity.

On February 8, the American space exploration technology company SpaceX announced that more than 40 satellites belonging to the “Starlink” project had fallen from its orbit into space to Earth, just 5 days after its launch from a base in the International Space Station. Kennedy Aerospace Center, Florida, USA.

In an official statement by the company, it was stated that the cause of this fall was a strong geomagnetic storm, which led to a slight increase in the density of the atmosphere, increasing its ability to pull satellites in low orbits by 50%.

Because SpaceX usually launches its satellites in the first stage at an altitude of only about 210 kilometers from the Earth's surface (low orbit), its satellites have already been pulled into the atmosphere and are starting to fall.

Fallen pieces of some of the Starlink satellites in Puerto Rico have already been observed by the Caribbean Astronomical Society, but the satellite sizes are - in general - so small that they burn completely in the atmosphere, so there is no potential damage from falling to Earth.

What is a geomagnetic storm?

A geomagnetic storm is a major disturbance in the Earth's magnetosphere, caused by a very efficient exchange of energy with the solar wind, which are charged, high-energy particles that occasionally blast out from the sun.

The largest geomagnetic storms are associated with a phenomenon called coronal mass ejection, which is a massive explosion on the surface of the sun that releases about a billion tons of charged particles into space, and the Earth is affected if this explosion is in its direction, and its effect usually takes several days to reach the Earth, In this case, the solar eruption occurred on January 30, and the Earth was affected on February 2.

In general, the harmful effects of these geomagnetic storms on the human body have not been detected, but with severe solar eruptions, power lines and stations on the ground can be affected and stop working, as well as communications, satellite systems and GPS technologies.

Sun cycle

The possibilities of severe solar explosions increase as the sun approaches the peak of its activity in a cycle that occurs every 11 years, during which the sun moves between a state of higher activity and a state of lower activity.

It is known that the sun is currently going through its 25th recorded cycle, which began in December 2019-January 2020, and is heading in the coming years to its peak, which is expected to occur during the year 2025.

Space agencies are currently interested in this phenomenon, because the number of satellites is increasing dramatically, and communication and navigation systems on Earth are completely dependent on satellites, and therefore a large solar explosion may one day cause major problems for humans on Earth.