Solar storm knocks out 40 SpaceX Starlink satellites

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ORLANDO, Fla., Feb. 9 (UPI) -- A solar storm has knocked out 40 of 49 SpaceX Starlink broadband communications satellites the company launched from Florida on Thursday, the company said.

While the loss of dozens of spacecraft is likely a multimillion-dollar blow to SpaceX, the Starlink business plan will survive and the satellites do not pose a risk to Earth as they fall back and burn up in the atmosphere, Harvard astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell told UPI in an interview.

"We've seen problems with satellites due to radiation during a solar event, but this was different," said McDowell, who studies satellite tracking data and works at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Massachusetts.

"SpaceX is saying the solar storm resulted in a thicker atmosphere, which is a known phenomenon, and that made the satellites tumble," he said. "What isn't clear is if the design of the satellites failed or if the atmosphere was just thicker than anticipated."

A spacecraft in low-Earth orbit must maintain a speed of about 17,000 mph to remain in orbit, so the slowing effect of the atmosphere would have caused the satellites to fall. SpaceX has designed Starlink spacecraft to burn up quickly when they re-enter.

SpaceX did not respond to a request for more information beyond a four-paragraph statement posted on its website Tuesday evening.

The company said it attempted to negotiate the atmosphere's increased density by rotating the satellites so they flew with their narrow edge leading -- a "safe mode."

"The increased drag at the low altitudes prevented the satellites from leaving safe mode to begin orbit raising maneuvers, and up to 40 of the satellites will re-enter or already have re-entered the Earth's atmosphere," SpaceX said.

Satellite tracking systems lost contact with the satellites on Friday. Five of them were confirmed as having re-entered the atmosphere by Tuesday, McDowell said. But more could have.

"Never before have 40 satellites failed at one time, so this will tax the Space Force's re-entry tracking system," he said.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had predicted a solar flare would arrive on Feb. 2, predicting at the time that any geomagnetic storm activity would likey persist into Thursday at weakening levels.

The sun, however, has been in a relatively quiet period for flares as part of its natural 11-year cycle.

"We are entering a period of heightened solar activity now, so launching to this lower perigee may become problematic," McDowell said.

SpaceX has over 2,000 Starlink spacecraft in orbit to provide its high-speed broadband Internet service globally.

But the past few launches of the satellites have been heavier than earlier versions because they have laser communication features that allow them to transmit data to other Starlinks.

Because of the heavier weight, SpaceX lowered the number of satellites on a typical launch from 60 to 49 or 50 spacecraft.

It also began deploying them in orbit at a lower altitude of around 130 miles above the Earth, said Tim Farrar, a telecommunications consultant based in California.

"If they had launched to higher altitudes, I think it's more than likely that they wouldn't have had a problem here," Farrar said of the spacecraft failure.

The bigger question for SpaceX is whether it can continue to launch as many satellites at a time, or if it can launch to a higher altitude with the heavier new spacecraft, he said.

"They've raised $5 billion over the past few years, so this loss is a drop in the bucket, but if they can't continue to deploy the number of Starlink satellites they need, that could have an impact," Farrar said.

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