40 SpaceX Starlink Satellites Destroyed by Geomagnetic Storm

Almost all of the 49 ​​Starlink satellites that SpaceX launched from Florida’s space coast on February 3 are crashing and burning up, after a geomagnetic storm knocked them from orbit.

Geomagnetic storms are triggered by disturbances on the Sun, such as a solar coronal mass ejection or unusually high-speed solar winds. These storms create disturbances in the Earth's magnetosphere—in the storm that SpaceX said took out its satellites, the atmosphere warmed and became dense, keeping the satellites from reaching a higher orbit to escape and stay aloft.

In a company blog post, SpaceX wrote that “the escalation speed and severity of the storm caused atmospheric drag to increase up to 50 percent higher than during previous launches.” The Starlink team put the satellites into “safe mode,” maneuvering them to minimize drag, but up to 40 of the satellites weren’t able to leave this safe mode position and get into higher orbit. Those have all either already burned up in the atmosphere, or eventually will. Starlink satellites are designed to completely disintegrate when re-entering Earth’s orbit so they leave no debris behind.

SpaceX blamed the severity of the storm for the failure, but as Space News pointed out, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association had predicted a much milder storm leading up to the launch: on launch day, NOAA predicted the mildest level of storm. 

Starlink’s strategy for launching satellites is to keep them in a relatively low orbit while the team does operational checks, then moving them to a higher orbit. If they don’t pass these checks, they can be quickly decommissioned and burn up from there. The company positions this as good space debris stewardship: “While the low deployment altitude requires more capable satellites at a considerable cost to us, it’s the right thing to do to maintain a sustainable space environment,” SpaceX wrote. For those keeping count, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk is worth $236 billion, 10 times NASA’s budget for 2021. 

The Starlink program—intended to broaden internet access around the world—has been criticized for years by astronomers and preservation groups concerned that the light pollution thrown off by the satellites will interfere with science and natural dark skies. Last month, a study published in the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters showed that the Starlink formations are causing increasing streaks in telescope images. On Feb. 2, the day before this launch, the International Astronomical Union announced the formation of the Centre for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference, made up of astronomers, satellite operators, and regulators, to work on protecting the sky from light pollution from satellites.