Last week SpaceX launched 49 Starlink satellites and now the vast majority of those will likely be returning to Earth’s atmosphere sooner than expected.

That’s because on Friday, the day after the satellites were launched, Earth experienced a geomagnetic storm. A geomagnetic storm occurs when the sun emits a strong surge of solar wind or a coronal mass ejection as it’s known.

“This gust of solar wind disturbs the outer part of the Earth’s magnetic field, which undergoes a complex oscillation. This generates associated electric currents in the near-Earth space environment, which in turn generates additional magnetic-field variations — all of which constitute a ‘magnetic storm’,” reads an explanation from the US Geological Survey.

As you might imagine, this event isn’t great especially for SpaceX which was trying to bring its satellites online.

Initially, the Starlink satellites were deployed into their intended orbit with a perigee of 200km. The reason SpaceX does this at such a relatively low altitude is so that if a satellite fails to pass its system check, it will be deorbited by atmospheric drag. So then, how does a a coronal mass ejection from our closest star affect SpaceX?

“These [geomagnetic] storms cause the atmosphere to warm and atmospheric density at our low deployment altitudes to increase. In fact, onboard GPS suggests the escalation speed and severity of the storm caused atmospheric drag to increase up to 50 percent higher than during previous launches. The Starlink team commanded the satellites into a safe-mode where they would fly edge-on (like a sheet of paper) to minimize drag—to effectively ‘take cover from the storm’—and continued to work closely with the Space Force’s 18th Space Control Squadron and LeoLabs to provide updates on the satellites based on ground radars,” explains SpaceX.

This geomagnetic storm has cost SpaceX as many as 40 satellites and while those satellites are set to re-enter or have already re-entered the atmosphere, there’s no danger on the ground.

Starlink satellites are designed to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere on re-entry and as such no orbital debris is created and by extension, none hits the ground.

Speaking of geomagnetic storms, another is likely to be triggered between today and tomorrow according to the Center of Excellence in Space Science India. The storm will be triggered by a “partial halo” coronal mass ejection that was observed on 6th February.

//CESSI SPACE WEATHER BULLETIN//07 FEB 2022//SUMMARY: NOMINAL SPACE WEATHER// A filament eruption was observed on the Sun south of disk center on 06 FEB. SOHO LASCO detected a partial halo CME being launched soon thereafter.
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— Center of Excellence in Space Sciences India (@cessi_iiserkol) February 7, 2022

While these storms don’t usually pose a danger to us here on Earth electronics are far more sensitive to the radiation and magnetic fields coursing through the universe. It’s a fascinating and concerning phenomenon that YouTube channel Veritasium explains in the video below.