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SpaceX loses 40 satellites to geomagnetic storm a day after launch

malc-c

By malc-c
in The Astro Lounge

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tomato

tomato

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Posted

I could see how the geomagnetic storm would put them out of action but not cause them to re-enter the earth’s atmosphere. However, the storm causes the atmosphere to become denser at higher altitudes, that’s something I didn’t know.

His rockets need more umph…

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ONIKKINEN

ONIKKINEN

Posted
Posted
7 minutes ago, tomato said:

I could see how the geomagnetic storm would put them out of action but not cause them to re-enter the earth’s atmosphere. However, the storm causes the atmosphere to become denser at higher altitudes, that’s something I didn’t know.

His rockets need more umph…

They are actually launched to dangerously low orbit on purpose and that's a very good thing. At a perigee of 210km (where they are launched to) they would not spend long in orbit if there was a malfunction. This low orbit is a no-control failsafe that removes faulty satellites quickly without adding space junk and causing hazards to functional satellites. When launched they check that everything works and only then start the slow orbit raising burns with the on board hall-effect ion thrusters. The orbit raising itself takes weeks because while these thrusters are very efficient, they only provide fractions of a newton of thrust. So in the case of very unusual atmospheric conditions the satellite will lose more velocity to drag than the little thruster can provide.

I am actually quite surprised SpaceX is willing to take these precautions. The Falcon 9 would have no trouble sending the stack of satellites to any low earth orbit altitude so they can only lose money doing this. The public likes this though so the PR gains are probably worth it or they would not take the risk.

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wulfrun

wulfrun

Posted
Posted
14 minutes ago, tomato said:

His rockets need more umph…

Or stop trying to launch them when a storm's due? Can't remember where the quote is from but my initial thought was "oh dear, what a shame, how sad".

Also, what a waste of resources but that applies to the rest of them!

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Gfamily

Gfamily

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3 hours ago, ONIKKINEN said:

I am actually quite surprised SpaceX is willing to take these precautions. The Falcon 9 would have no trouble sending the stack of satellites to any low earth orbit altitude so they can only lose money doing this. The public likes this though so the PR gains are probably worth it or they would not take the risk.

As their aim is to get a distribution of different orbits to ensure their constellation has a comprehensive coverage, I speculate that having a launch to an initial low orbit with an extended period of adjustment makes it easier to get a wider variety of final orbital elements, and maybe an initial deployment to a higher orbit would make that more difficult given that each launch releases upwards of 50 satellites at a time. 

This is pure speculation mind - though we know that SpaceX do seem to be remarkably effective at producing efficient solutions to whatever they see as being needed, so I assume there's a good reason. 

Though why they thought it a good idea to launch just the day after an M class flare hit the Earth's atmosphere is a good question. 

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Greymouser

Greymouser

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4 hours ago, wulfrun said:

Or stop trying to launch them when a storm's due? Can't remember where the quote is from but my initial thought was "oh dear, what a shame, how sad".

Not very political correct, but I used to love that series... :grin:

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PeterW

PeterW

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42 minutes ago, Greymouser said:

Not very political correct, but I used to love that series... :grin:

Beat me to it! Wonder if Heavens Above can give re-entry predictions?? Those vids (one linked to from SpaceWeather.com) look way cooler than the “string of pearls” we get when they’ve just been launched. At least with this light show we won’t have to worry about them endlessly photobombing astro images. They are “demisable”… which means designed to burn up so that nothing gets down to the ground… though maybe we should be buying hard hats just in case….

Peter 

 

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saac

saac

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54 minutes ago, Greymouser said:

Not very political correct, but I used to love that series... :grin:

before political correctness was invented - how lucky we were to have seen their like, happy days :)  

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ONIKKINEN

ONIKKINEN

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20 hours ago, Stu said:

Do the timings stack up for it to be related to this one? Looks quite like 40 odd small satellites re-entering?

https://news.sky.com/video/share-12535287

SpaceX Falcon 9 second stage, but launched in 2017: https://www.space.com/spacex-rocket-stage-deorbits-over-mexico

All second stages that have not been shot to escape trajectories go through this, but most re-enter somewhere they are never seen because the Earth is mostly ocean. The second stage has many metal parts built for high temperatures that take a long time to burn in the atmosphere so this sort of lightshow can remain for a while (like all engine parts which generally benefit from not melting in use, also means they resist re-entry shock heating for a while).

Some kit can make its way to the ground after re-entry: https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/2/22364582/spacex-rocket-debris-falls-farm-washington

By the way this is the reason why SpaceX launches starlink to initial low orbits, because this second stage has been nothing but space junk for 5 years, which the starlink satellites would also be if shot to initial higher orbits.

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