Washington: Over the past three years, SpaceX has deployed many satellites into low-earth orbit as part of its business to beam high-speed internet service from space, but the latest deployment of 49 new satellites did not go as planned.
As a consequence of a geomagnetic storm triggered by a recent outburst of the sun, up to 40 of 49 newly launched Starlink satellites have been knocked out of commission.
The geomagnetic incident resulted in the Starlink transmitters drifting back into Earth’s atmosphere, where they will burn up.
The sun has an 11-year long cycle in which it oscillates between hyperactive and quiescent states and presently it is ramping up to its peak, which indicates that more such satellites are prone to facing the same problem, the New York Time reported.
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