Nearly 40 SpaceX satellites destroyed in solar storm

A major setback for the Starlink satellite network operated by US space company SpaceX. A few days after the company sent 49 satellites into orbit, 40 of them have now been destroyed in a solar storm.

Solar storm destroys 40 SpaceX satellites

With nearly 1,800 Starlink satellites in Earth orbit by the end of 2021, SpaceX is by far the largest satellite operator in the world. However, the satellite network, which is intended to provide particularly fast Internet access in the future, has now had to accept a bitter setback.

Only a few days after sending 49 new satellites into orbit, up to 40 of them were destroyed in a violent solar storm, according to current estimates. The U.S. space company now announced this in an update.

The satellites were sent into orbit about 210 kilometers above Earth from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, with each of the 49 satellites achieving its controlled flight. But a geomagnetic storm on Feb. 03 then caused the Earth’s atmosphere to heat up, it said.

This caused the density of the Earth’s atmosphere to increase so much (50 percent higher than previous satellite launches) that the satellites were brought down prematurely, Starlink estimates. However, thanks to the company’s extensive safety measures, no other satellites or the Earth’s surface were harmed, the company writes.

Low-altitude launch

At the comparatively low altitude of 210 kilometers above the Earth, newly launched Starlink satellites are first checked for functionality and only after successful testing are they sent into their actual orbits at an altitude of more than 500 kilometers.

In this way, the company could ensure that the few satellites that fail the test fall comparatively safely and quickly from the sky and burn up in the atmosphere. This intermediate step would result in additional costs, but is the right solution to minimize space debris while enabling sustainable space use, Starlink further reveals. Initial estimates indicate that as many as 40 of SpaceX’s newly launched satellites were destroyed during the solar storm, and that was despite the fact that they had to be appropriately aligned to reduce drag.

Starlink has been launching satellites for high-speed Internet into space since May 2019. In a pre-series, 60 SpaceX satellites were sent into space at the time. By the end of 2020, it is estimated that 47 of these prototypes had burned up in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Starlink satellite Internet has been officially available since March 2020, launching first in the U.S. and a year later in Germany, as well as in many other countries. According to current figures, Starlink already has around 150,000 customers. The company plans to send a total of up to 30,000 satellites into space in the future, covering the entire globe.