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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSpaceX loses 40 satellites to geomagnetic storm a day after launch
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-60317806SpaceX loses 40 satellites to geomagnetic storm a day after launch
Published3 hours ago
SpaceX has lost dozens of satellites after they were hit by a geomagnetic storm a day after launch, causing them to fall from orbit and burn up.
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The company, owned by billionaire Elon Musk, said up to 40 of 49 satellites from last week's launch were hit.
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"Onboard GPS suggests the escalation speed and severity of the storm caused atmospheric drag to increase up to 50% higher than during previous launches," SpaceX said.
SpaceX tried to put the satellites into a "safe mode", turning them to fly edge-on to minimise drag.
The drag was strong enough to stop the satellites ever getting out of that "safe mode" and back into the orbit they needed to reach to be stable. Instead, "up to 40" will fall back into the Earth's atmosphere and burn up.
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librechik
(30,663 posts)how else would we know? and good thing we won't lose Dubuque, right?
Good Lord!
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Space weather is to be taken seriously. Both the Sun and the Earth itself can be quite temperamental. The Earth's magnetic field has been quite turbulent lately. We haven't seen one of the Sun's really big storms hit the Earth yet, during this technological age. If the 1859 Carrington Event were to happen today, we'd be in very serious trouble.
CrispyQ
(36,231 posts)I'd never heard of the Carrington Event. Thanks!
The Carrington Event was the most intense geomagnetic storm in recorded history, occurring on 12 September 1859 during solar cycle 10. It created strong auroral displays that were reported globally and caused sparking and fire in multiple telegraph systems. Wikipedia
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)And "blown out telegraph clickers" with "blown out power plants" and you begin to get an idea...
roamer65
(36,739 posts)We just missed a major Carrington in July, 2012 by a few days.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)It would set us back to at least 1859.
roamer65
(36,739 posts)There are still a few vehicles around that dont have electronics.
Old classic cars, for instance. Those would go for a higher premium than they do now.
Employment would go up as we went back to manual accounting and manual logistical systems from the pre-information age.
My guess is would we be back to early 1960s standards. Deaths would escalate as health care fell back a few decades.
The Federal Reserve has a ton of emergency cash for such a scenario.
The fun part would be watching how the electronic devices zombies handle being unplugged from the collective all of a sudden.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)safety margin, assuming this wasn't a "500-year" geomagnetic storm. And better forecasting.
Pioneers.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)That's a very early gesture toward responsible handling of space junk, and also makes it convenient to plan for upgrades of the constellation.
But if they de-orbit too soon, money is burned.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)what's involved.
Nevilledog
(50,687 posts)Amishman
(5,541 posts)They've been doing 50-60 sats per launch. I believe when the bigger rocket is ready, it will be several hundred going up at a time.
jcgoldie
(11,584 posts)crickets
(25,896 posts)Backseat Driver
(4,339 posts)and the possible space weather effects are known re electronic communication devices. (Science).
Also, the planet Mercury, as portrayed by the Archangel Gabriel who is the messenger in charge of communications, was still in retrograde on launch day, making 2/3/2022 an astrologically inauspicious launch day (pseudo-science). LOL! Just covering all the nutty bases...
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/phenomena/geomagnetic-storms - article mentions this "drag" then scroll to menus at bottom to explore current forecast choices and likely space weather effects, scroll down more for previous alerts and effects...Happy exploring!