[LINK] itN: 'Solar winds take out Starlink satellites'

[Carl Makin]

Hi Roger,

> On 10 Feb 2022, at 8:11 am, Roger Clarke <Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au> wrote:
> 
> Solar winds take out Starlink satellites
> Geomagnetic storm hits broadband from the skies provider.
> Juha Saarinen
> itNews
> Feb 9 2022
> https://www.itnews.com.au/news/solar-winds-take-out-starlink-satellites-575813

> SpaceX said the re-entering satellites pose no collision risk with other
> satellites ...
> 
> [ Presumably that's because no-one else is silly enough to put lumps of
> matter into temporary, very-high-speed orbit that close to Earth. ]

It’s a temporary parking orbit until the satellites separate enough that they can fire their ion thrusters and go to a higher orbit.

> [ 550km isn't all that far to fall, and 260kg is a fair bit of material
> to be vaporised.  Maybe they've accumulated a bit of experience of
> de-orbital burn-up rates, particuylarly when falling from 1100m.  Do
> they have empirical evidence yet from the 550km level? ]

It was from ~250-300km and yes, they are lightweight enough to fully burn up.

> [ Have there been previous launches into the 550km level, which went as
> planned?  Was the prompt loss of 40 of a batch of 49 really a once-off
> bit of bad luck, or an indicator that the environment at that level is
> simply too hostile for spacecraft to hang around? ]

550km is not that low.  It’s higher than the ISS and many other LEO satellites.

BTW the Falcon 9 can carry up to about 60 starlink satellites in one go.  This one was less as it was launched into a southerly orbit so needed extra fuel for a dogleg manoeuvre around the Caribbean.

Scott Manly has an excellent video on what happened and why at https://youtu.be/9kIcEFyEPgA <https://youtu.be/9kIcEFyEPgA>


Carl.