On February 8, an unfortunate news from SpaceX was terrifying, due to unexpected changes in the outer space environment, a batch of SpaceX starlink satellites that had just been launched suffered an accident, and nearly 40 of the 49 satellites failed to enter the predetermined orbit and fell to the earth.
Some people may speculate that there has been an unexpected change in the outer space environment, is it because it was ambushed by an alien flying saucer and shot down 40 starlink satellites at one time? Non-also, non-also, so who else can shoot down 40 satellites at once? We read it with curiosity.
On February 3, 2022, Eastern Time, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket rose from the Needi Space Center in Florida, USA, carrying 49 starlink satellites to the sky, which is the 36th launch of the SpaceX starlink satellite, everything is so easy to understand, there is nothing to worry about.
The Falcon9 rocket soon reached a low orbit of 210 km high and successfully separated from the Starlink satellite, marking the successful launch of the SpaceX Satellite again, because after a few hours, the Satellite will automatically rise to a predetermined orbit of 450 to 560 kilometers high by relying on the initial speed, and everything will be automatically controlled.
At this time, the outer space environment suddenly underwent unexpected changes, a fierce solar wind hit the earth, interacting with the earth's magnetic field, generating electric currents and plasma, which is a geomagnetic storm, a large number of high-speed particles and gas molecules violently collided, not only heating the air, but also greatly increasing the density of the atmosphere.
The increase in atmospheric density means that the resistance also increases, which affects the automatic rise of the Starlink satellite to a predetermined orbit, and the SpaceX Starlink team is also aware of the seriousness of this problem, and quickly adjusts the attitude of the Starlink satellite, changing from forward to sideways, which can reduce some resistance.
It is understood that on January 30, 2022, Eastern Time, the solar eruption produced a violent solar wind, a large number of high-energy charged particles after 4 days of flight, attacked the Earth's magnetic field, resulting in a 50% increase in atmospheric resistance than before, the Starlink satellite only rose to half and no longer rose, but ran around the low orbit.
Ground-based tracking radar shows that nearly 40 satellites have not been able to ascend to their intended orbits, and because the satellites are placed in protective "safe mode", they cannot start the thrusters and cannot be awakened, which means that the deployment fails, and there is only one outcome, that is, they have fallen to the earth.
Although 40 satellites were destroyed at the same time, the impact on SpaceX's Starlink Internet is not large, but the satellite Internet deployment time in some areas has been postponed backwards, and by February 2022, SpaceX has successfully deployed more than 1800 Satellite Chain satellites, and the satellite Internet has basically covered the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
However, SpaceX founder Musk wants to build a global satellite Internet, so that people in any corner of the earth can access the Internet, plans to launch a total of 42,000 artificial satellites, so 40 satellites can only be regarded as a dime, will not have much impact on SpaceX.
This also gives us a warning again, geomagnetic storms can not be ignored, will affect the launch of Earth satellites and the normal operation of satellites in orbit, SpaceX in the future before launching starlink satellites, be sure to look at NASA's solar wind observation report, do not make such a mistake again.
From October to November 2003, several geomagnetic storms broke out, causing serious damage to orbiting satellites, and the United States Earth reconnaissance satellites and many Japanese satellites were seriously damaged, and some were directly scrapped, such as the Japanese ADEOS-2 satellite, which cut off signal communication with the ground and automatically shut down.
The geomagnetic storm also affected orbiting satellites and even on terrestrial electronics, and in September 1859, the largest geomagnetic storm on record broke out, creating the Carrington Incident, which sparked a fire and destroyed part of the American Telegraph network, and in 1989, a geomagnetic storm caused a power chaos in much of Quebec.
However, geomagnetic storms also give us an eye-catching spectacle - the Northern Lights, not only green, but also red and yellow, when high-energy particles reach the atmosphere below 100 kilometers, collide with nitrogen molecules, excite a pink glow, pink and green superimposed to become yellow. Interesting and informative scientific content, please pay attention to the only WeChat public account: Interesting Exploration