According to media reports, SpaceX issued a statement saying that 40 starlink satellites that had just been launched over the sky were scrapped due to the impact of solar storms!
"Starlink" satellites
StarLink is a project of the American Space Exploration Technology Corporation (SpaceX). The project's plan is to deploy nearly 12,000 Starchain satellites in three orbits by mid-2020.
Among them, about 1600 "Starlink" satellites are deployed in an orbit of 550 kilometers, 2800 "Starlink" satellites are deployed in an orbit of 1150 kilometers, and 7500 "Starlink" satellites are deployed in an orbit of 340 kilometers. These satellites will eventually form a "starlink" network that provides users with high-speed Internet services covering the entire network.
On February 22, 2018, SpaceX successfully launched two small experimental communication satellites into orbit. Subsequently, starting in 2019, the project began to be carried out one after another, and the first batch of 60 "Starlink" satellites were sent. However, as of September 14, 2021, the total number of SatelliteLink satellites launched is only 1791, far from meeting expectations. Not only that, as of June 16, 2021, 76 Starchain satellites have been de-orbited.
This time, for this project, it can be said that the loss was heavy, and 40 were scrapped in one go. According to reports, at 13:13 Eastern Time on February 3, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carried 49 "Starlink" satellites and was launched into a predetermined orbit. The original plan was for these "Starlink" satellites to perform the orbit of the target from the intended orbit.
According to a later statement from SpaceX, these "Starlink" satellites have achieved controlled flight. However, these "Starlink" satellites were affected by solar storms the day after launch. Solar storms cause the atmosphere to warm and increase in density, and according to airborne GPS, the speed and severity of this solar storm have exceeded expectations, directly causing atmospheric drag to be 50% higher than at launch. So the team put the Starlink satellites into safe mode in order to minimize resistance and avoid the storm.
However, through preliminary sharing, 40 Starlink satellites have been scrapped, and they may re-enter or have re-entered the Earth's atmosphere. This has been the worst loss since the inception of the project.
I believe that seeing this, many people will have several questions, such as:
- Is it possible that these 40 Starlink satellites will collide with other satellites? 、
- Is it possible that the 40 Starlink satellites will fall to the ground and hit people or buildings?
On these two issues, SpaceX officials unilaterally stated that there is no risk of collision with other satellites; secondly, once the "Starlink" satellite enters the atmosphere, it will be scrapped, no debris will be generated, and the parts of the satellite will not fall to the ground.
Of course, this is just a one-sided response from SpaceX. We also need to keep an eye on the follow-up to that event.
After the incident broke, many people also questioned, such as:
- Why are other moons not affected by similar effects when solar storms strike, while Starlink satellites do?
- Solar storms are common astronomical phenomena, and in general, satellites have the means to resist solar storms, while other satellites, including China, have not run out of control because of solar storms. Why are Starlink satellites so fragile?
- If the "Starlink" satellites will lose control if they suffer from solar storms, won't the thousands of "Starlink" satellites in space also be very dangerous? So will it cause a lot of space junk?
Various problems with the StarLink project
Many people will raise such doubts, mainly because since the establishment of the "StarLink" satellite project, it has caused a lot of trouble to the outside world and has been questioned.
First, the Starlink satellites caused light pollution, making it increasingly difficult for astronomers to observe the ground. As a result, it was denounced and protested by astronomers. The International Astronomical Union had to set up a center to help astronomers cope with the effects of the Starlink moons.
Second, the "Starlink" satellite increases the risk of collision between satellites and space stations. European satellites have encountered dangerous situations, forcing them to circumvent them in advance. Later, ESA said that due to the risks posed by the StarLink project, it planned to invest in the development of technology for automated satellite collision avoidance braking.
Our country has also filed a complaint with the United Nations: without prior notice, the "Starlink" satellite has been close to the Chinese space station twice, posing a threat to the life safety of the astronauts on the space station, forcing the Chinese space station to start preventive collision avoidance control.
You know, the "Starlink" satellites are now only going up to thousands, and a large number of "Starlink" satellites will be launched in the future. Not only that, but the new plan is that SpaceX will increase from the original plan to launch 12,000 Starlink satellites to 42,000. At that time, not only will it be a disaster for astronomical observations, but the probability of colliding with artificial detectors such as satellites will also be greatly improved.
But that's probably not the worst, knowing that altitude-orbital resources in space are an extremely scarce resource, on a first-come, first-served basis. In the past and future years, SpaceX has a large number of "Starlink" satellite launches, which will occupy these scarce resources in advance. So, this inevitably makes people wonder whether SpaceX's real intention is to provide network services or to seize orbital altitude resources.
#The latest launch of The Starlink satellite scrapped 40 at a time ##马斯克入选美国国家工程院院士 #