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Elon Musk must be bothered about what’s happening to his SpaceX’s satellites. In the past few years, the Sun’s activity has provoked negative consequences to the technology that surrounds us. What does this have to do with Musk? The Starlink’s satellites network, created by his SpaceX company, is used to give access to the internet from space, but now these satellites are falling from Earth orbit. NASA has given an explanation on this issue, this happens because solar flares and space weather are warming up Earth’s upper atmosphere affecting objects in space and, as a consequence, satellite communications.
SpaceX is known for revolutionizing space technology
, so this must be a bummer for Elon. Let’s see what’s happening in detail and what Musk is doing about this satellites issue.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American company which focuses on space exploration. It was founded by Elon Musk in 2002 and its main mission is to make space missions more accessible and sustainable. Elon has in mind the possibility of colonizing other planets like Mars.
What missions has SpaceX done? Some of its major contributions to the space industry are: developing reusable rockets (Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy), launching satellites to space, missions in collaboration with NASA (
Crew Dragon
) and developing the Starship spacecraft to go to Mars and the Moon.
The role of the Sun
Every 11 years the Sun experiences a solar cycle, during this period its activity increases until its solar maximum (it’s like its limit) and then decreases.
What happens in this solar cycle? Some phenomena occur and affect the Earth’s upper atmosphere, like solar spots showing the coldest parts of the Sun, solar flares and solar wind. All of this is a nightmare for SpaceX’s satellites job.
So, what’s happening to Musk’s satellites?
The Sun is experiencing its most active period in the last few years which may not be so noticeable for us on Earth, but it is causing important negative effects for satellites in low orbit because they are falling!
The most damaged system is Starlink, the most important project in the SpaceX company, which offers internet to any place on the planet Earth from space by using thousands of satellites in low orbit.
Number of satellites fallen
NASA has analysed how many Satarlink’s satellites have returned to the Earth’s atmosphere from 2020 to 2024. You will be shocked when you see how much this fall has increased…
In 2020, only 2 satellites fell which seems a reasonable number, but, with the passage of time, this amount has experienced a huge rise. In 2024, 316 satellites fell into the atmosphere. It’s true that 7,600 satellites are still active, but it is a big number to consider.
Why is Starlink being studied?
Scientists use Starlink’s satellites data for precise analyses and see how the Sun affects objects orbiting Earth.
These analyses are important to improve models that predict air resistance, design better strategies to keep satellites in orbit and prevent collisions like the Kessler effect. So, they do way more than we might think over there.
Kessler effect
This happèns when two satellites crash against each other and create thousands of pieces, which could collide against other satellites and create even more pieces. This would be a long loop until the low orbit is full of space debris, which will make launching rockets and satellites more difficult.
Now we know more about SpaceX’s mission and how its satellites work. Elon Musk with the collaboration of NASA scientists are trying to make this Kessler effect prevention a top priority, so that they can continue with their space technology activity. Were you aware of all the things happening in outer space? I think it’s fascinating, don’t you think so?
