There have never been as many satellites orbiting the earth as today. However, the sun is “killing them”. At the same time, this can be beneficial and cause for concern.
As solar eruptions are shortening the life of satellites in terrestrial orbit, especially of major constellations such as internet service Starlink da SpaceX de Elon Musk.
This scenario can be simultaneously beneficial and a reason for concern.
The sun goes through an 11 -year activity cycle, reaching the peak with a period known as Máximo Solar, which occurred more recently in late 2024.
As explained during these periods, increasing solar eruptions can create geomagnetic storms that heat the atmosphere of our planet, increasing it in size and increasing satellites resistance.
A new study, last week in the arXivinvestigated the effect this was having in the Starlink. One of the first conclusions was that, during the maximum solar, the life time of a satellite can be Reduced up to 10 days.
This effect is only becoming evident now, due to a boom Satellite megaconstel launches, in particular by Spacex.
They exist More than 7000 Starlink satellites in Earth orbitwhich provide a space internet service on the ground. But new satellites are constantly added to the constellation, with releases that occur almost every week. Spacex plans to have over 30,000 orbit satellites in the future.
Satellites can reach the ground more easily
Some Starlink satellites are purposely thrown into the atmosphere at the end of their lifetime, while others naturally fall under atmospheric dragging when they fail.
Now, the team found that during the latest most serious geomagnetic events, when 37 Starlink satellites reentry, orbit satellites below 300 kilometers reentry after about five daysagainst more than 15 days.
Researchers warn that this scenario can make the fastest reentry make satellites less likely to burn completely in the earthly atmosphere, with the “Possibility for an object to reach the ground” – said, to New Scientist, the leader of the investigation Denny Oliveirafrom NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.
In August 2024, a piece of 2.5 kg of a Starlink satellite was found on a farm in Saskatchewan, in Canada – The only known case of a starlink piece of satellite that survived the reentry (according to Spacex).
