Serious setback for Elon Musk: sun storm takes rows of satellites from the sky

Created: 02/10/2022 13:26

By: Lisa Mayerhofer

Elon Musk has launched an ambitious project with his space company SpaceX.

(Archive image) © Jae C. Hong/dpa

Multi-billionaire Elon Musk has many visions.

One of them is super-fast internet from space.

But now a solar storm has thwarted the multi-entrepreneur's ambitious plans.

Hawthorne - Space company SpaceX has lost up to 40 internet satellites in a solar storm.

The satellites of the SpaceX program Starlink * would - if this had not already happened - re-enter the earth's atmosphere and burn up, explained the company founded by technology pioneer Elon Musk.

Starlink: Sunstream destroys 40 out of 49 satellites

SpaceX sent 49 Starlink satellites into space last week from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The satellites initially reached a temporary earth orbit at an altitude of around 210 kilometers, as the company announced.

Safety checks are carried out at this altitude before the satellites are then supposed to reach their higher earth orbit.

But last Friday, the satellites were hit by a geomagnetic storm.

Such solar storms occur when the sun throws a particularly large number of electrically charged particles towards the earth as a result of an eruption, which can result in considerable disturbances.

SpaceX failed to save Starlinke satellites

"These storms are causing the atmosphere to warm and increase atmospheric density at our low operating altitudes," SpaceX said.

This also increases the air resistance for the satellites.

SpaceX tried to protect the satellites from the solar storm through maneuvers;

however, most of the satellites subsequently failed to reach their intended orbit.

"Up to 40 of the satellites will re-enter or have already re-entered Earth's atmosphere," SpaceX said.

There is "no" risk of collision with other satellites;

the aircraft would burn up.

Starlink: Strong NASA criticism

The Starlink satellite network aims to provide high-speed internet around the world.

More than 2,000 satellites are already in use, and Starlink has been approved for 12,000 satellites to date.

That's not enough for Elon Musk, who is aiming for sales of around 30 billion dollars with Starlink by 2025: he has applied for 30,000 more satellites.

The US space agency NASA is too much.

She criticizes Elon Musk's plan to launch tens of thousands of satellites into space.

"Nasa is concerned about the potential increase in collisions and possible impact on scientific and manned space missions," the agency said in a statement to

the FCC, according to the

The expansion "would more than double the number of objects being monitored in Earth orbit and more than quintuple the number of objects below the 600-kilometer limit."

Other astronomers have also criticized Starlink*, fearing that the large number of satellites could interfere with telescope images.