As of last month, Elon Musk's SpaceX has launched more than 1,900 Starlink satellites into orbit and has about 145,000 customers in 25 countries, in order to build a satellite network that provides high-speed broadband to the world.
A few days after the eruption of the Tonga volcano on Jan. 15, Musk asked on social media if the country would be willing to accept Starlink terminals to restore connectivity. The eruption reportedly cut off the only cable between Tonga and Fiji, an 872-kilometer-long submarine cable that is key to Tonga's connection to the outside world.
Fiji Attorney General Ayaz Sayyid-Hayyum said on social media on Feb. 7: "The SpaceX team is now building a Starlink satellite ground station in Fiji to reconnect Tonga with the world. ”
SpaceX launched its latest 49 Starlink satellites on Feb. 3, 40 of which were affected by geomagnetic storms.
However, the StarLink project has recently suffered a "major setback". On February 8, SpaceX released a statement on its official website saying that 49 Starlink satellites launched on February 3 were hit by geomagnetic storms the next day, and as many as 40 of them are expected to be out of orbit.
For the security threats that the incident may pose, SpaceX stressed that these de-orbiting satellites have a "zero risk of collision" with other satellites and will burn up once they enter the atmosphere. This means that the satellite scrapping process will not produce orbital debris and no satellite components will hit the ground.
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SpaceX engineers will operate ground stations in Fiji for 6 months
Since the eruption and the tsunami it triggered on 15 January, Tonga's damaged submarine cables are still being repaired, and local residents' contact with the outside world has not yet been fully restored. Although residents of the main island of Tongatapu are reportedly able to make voice calls through a network operated by digicel group, internet connectivity in the area is limited and usage demand has exceeded current capacity.
The eruption cut the only cable between Tonga and Fiji.
Meanwhile, Samyora Funua, chairman of Tonga Cable Co., Ltd., which oversees submarine cable repairs, said the country's fiber-optic cable repair work was continuing and testing was planned for the weekend. "If all goes well, our international connections will go live next week."
On February 7, local time, Fiji Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said on social media: "The SpaceX team is now building a Starlink satellite ground station in Fiji to reconnect Tonga with the world. ”
Since 2019, SpaceX has been committed to providing high-speed Internet access services from space to Earth through the launch of Starlink satellites. It is reported that a few days after the eruption of the Tonga volcano, Musk asked on social media whether the country was willing to accept starlink terminals to restore network connectivity.
Musk asked Tonga on social media if he would accept the StarLink terminal to restore network connectivity.
According to Said Hayyum, SpaceX engineers have arrived in Fiji to build a Starlink satellite ground station. Although the exact timing is unclear, Fiji Broadcasting Corporation quoted Saeed Hayyum as saying that SpaceX engineers will operate ground stations in Fiji for at least six months. To date, SpaceX's Starlink satellite Internet service has about 145,000 customers in 25 countries. According to reports, after Saeed Hayyum's article, SpaceX has not publicly confirmed the news so far.
SpaceX said the risk of colliding with other satellites was zero
As of last month, SpaceX has launched more than 1,900 Starlink satellites into space orbit. The most recent launch was on Feb. 3, when the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 49 Starlink satellites at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA. However, SpaceX announced on the 8th that the latest deployed satellites were severely affected by geomagnetic storms on the day after launch, and as many as 40 of them are expected to be de-orbited and scrapped.
SpaceX's statement on the damage to the satellite
"Geomagnetic storms cause an increase in atmospheric density at the low deployment altitude at which the satellite is located, and airborne GPS shows that the speed and severity of the storm escalation causes atmospheric drag at that altitude to be 50 percent higher than at launch." SpaceX said in a statement released on its official website that the 49 satellites had a perigee altitude of about 210 kilometers when they were sent into a predetermined orbit, and each satellite achieved controlled flight. However, they were severely affected by geomagnetic storms the day after launch.
SpaceX said in a statement that to avoid the storm, the team directed the satellite into safe mode, taking "flanking flights" to minimize drag. However, increased resistance during low-altitude flights prevents satellites from moving out of safe mode for orbital lifting operations, so up to 40 satellites "will re-enter or have re-entered" the Earth's atmosphere.
The China News Agency quoted the Associated Press as saying that the scrapped satellites weighed less than 260 kilograms. SpaceX also stressed in the statement that these de-orbiting satellites have a "zero risk of collision" with other satellites. And by design, once it enters the atmosphere, the satellite burns up. That means the end-of-life process won't produce orbital debris and satellite parts won't hit the ground, the company said.
The "StarLink" network in spaceX's program
Because SpaceX has not disclosed the cost of building a starlink satellite, it is unclear what financial losses the satellites will cause. But the scrapping of those satellites is said to be a "tough but manageable" loss for billionaire Musk. Since the first 60 Starlink satellites were launched in May 2019, the launch is already the 36th batch of satellites deployed by SpaceX.
In order to provide Internet services covering the whole world, especially in remote areas, SpaceX plans to build a "starlink" network of about 12,000 satellites in space in recent years, and has been considering expanding its size to 42,000. Over the past few years, there have been reports that the Starlink satellite network is disrupting astronomy and potentially colliding with other objects in orbit. The damage to the satellite is also the first time that the potential danger of a geomagnetic storm has been added to the discussion, and there is speculation that the setback will cause SpaceX to change its launch strategy and move forward more cautiously.
Red Star News reporter Hu Yiling
Edited by Zhang Xun
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