It turned out to be the sun.
On January 30, a coronal mass ejection occurred in the Sun. NASA
SpaceX was destined to lose its 40 brand new Starlink satellites because the day after the satellites took off, they encountered a geomagnetic storm. The 49 satellites were just launched into space on Feb. 3 by a Falcon 9 rocket.
When charged particles from the Sun arrive on Earth, they interact with Earth's magnetic field to form what is known as a geomagnetic storm. Geomagnetic storms can cause the expansion of high-density regions of the atmosphere, which is only a little bit overall, but it is enough to destroy satellites operating in low orbit.
On February 8, SpaceX released a message that preliminary analysis results showed that due to the increase in atmospheric resistance in low orbit, a large number of Starlink satellites could not recover from safe mode, so they could no longer carry out up-orbit maneuvers. Of these satellites, 40 are about to fall into the atmosphere or have already fallen into the atmosphere.
The geomagnetic storm originated from a coronal mass ejection event that occurred on the sun's surface on January 30. An unusually violent solar wind can cause stronger currents and more plasma to be generated within The Earth's magnetic field, and cause the upper part of The Earth's atmosphere to rise in temperature and density, severely affecting satellites operating in low orbit.
The satellites were deployed in an initial orbit after liftoff. This initial orbit is quite low, only 210 km. SpaceX said the purpose of doing so was to be able to dispose of faulty satellites quickly after launch. It was also in this orbit that the satellites were hit by geomagnetic storms.
The data shows that geomagnetic storms have caused these satellites to suffer 50 percent more atmospheric drag than ever before. The satellite then entered safe mode and turned its ultra-thin side forward in an attempt to reduce the effects of atmospheric drag.
But they were still too much resistance to recover from safe mode. In total, about 40 satellites will de-orbit and land back on Earth. SpaceX said the satellites would not pose a threat to the ground because they were designed to allow them to be fully burned up when they returned to Earth.
SpaceX has sent up to 60 Starlink satellites into orbit at a time. Since 2019, the company is working to build a vast network of satellite communications aimed at providing high-speed internet access services around the world. The number of satellites that make up this network is as high as 42,000. This batch of Starlink satellites is the third batch of Starlink satellites launched by SpaceX this year. At present, there are more than 1800 Starlink satellites in orbit.
StarLink is also a much-criticized program. Astronomers believe it interferes with ground-based astronomical observations, drawing bright lines in photos taken by telescopes. SpaceX says it's already working on ways to reduce satellite visibility into the night sky.
Starlink satellites. SpaceX
reference
SpaceX says a geomagnetic storm just doomed 40 Starlink internet satellites
https://www.space.com/spacex-starlink-satellites-lost-geomagnetic-storm