According to the Russian website of Pravdao of the Communist Youth League on June 8, the "Starlink" satellites launched by Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technology Company fell one after another. A research team led by physicist Danny Oliveira at the Goddard Space Center of NASA conducted a study on the "satellite shower."
316 satellites burned in the atmosphere. So far, Starlink has lost 583 satellites. About one out of every 15 satellites falls. What exactly happened?
▲Data picture: On June 23, 2024, a photo taken in Encinitas, California, USA showed that the "Falcon 9" rocket equipped with the "Starlink" satellite was launched from the Vandenberg Space Force Base. (Xinhua News Agency)
The launch of the Starlink satellite began in 2019, when it was at a low point in solar activity. NASA statistics show that last year was the peak of solar activity.
The period of solar activity is approximately 11 years. When many sunspots appear on the surface of the sun, strong explosions and solar flares occur. The solar wind erupts outward through the coronal hole, and some of the matter will fly towards the earth, causing a magnetic storm. When the solar plasma reaches the earth and causes a magnetic storm, another effect is created - a heating phenomenon of the upper atmosphere. The atmosphere expands when heated, and the satellites will feel greater flight resistance, which will de-orbit and eventually fall.
Because the Starlink satellite needs to provide communication services, its orbital height is low. It is estimated that the average lifespan of satellites in this orbit is 5 years.
Although this phenomenon is understandable overall, there are still many mysteries. For example, the research report points out that 70% of satellites do not fall during strong magnetic storms, but during moderate and weak magnetic storms. This is likely because weak magnetic storms usually last longer and slowly “erode” orbits, pushing satellites toward inevitable outcomes.
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