The expert explainsAfter the launch of 49 satellites by SpaceX, most of them burned up after a few days in the atmosphere. The reason for this is a geomagnetic storm caused by the Sun. Read more about the danger of such storms in the article.Discuss
A few days after SpaceX launched 49 satellites on February 4, 2022, most of them burned up in the atmosphere. This is explained by a geomagnetic storm caused by the Sun. These storms occur when Earth is affected by space weather. As a result, due to the interaction of our planet with the charged particles of the Sun (solar wind), satellites and, in general, everything in the earth's orbit can be destroyed.
Piyush Mehta, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at West Virginia University (USA), emphasizes that the Sun is constantly throwing a certain amount of charged particles into space. All this is called the solar wind. A geomagnetic storm, on the other hand, is formed if the Earth is affected by very strong emissions of such particles.
Most often, geomagnetic storms are caused by two reasons. Plasma ejections from the surface of the Sun and the solar wind that exits through coronal holes (spots in the Sun's atmosphere). At the same time, the higher the speed of emissions, the stronger the storm turns out to be.
The strongest geomagnetic storm occurred in 1859. Then there were power surges on telegraph lines. Today, a storm like this would cause roughly $2 trillion in damage to Earth.
Geomagnetic storms can harm satellites in Earth orbit in many ways. For example, because of them, satellites can simply burn out in the layers of the planet's atmosphere.
In addition, due to the large number of high-energy electrons in the magnetosphere, during strong storms the electronic components of the spacecraft can fail.
Radiation or charged particles in the magnetosphere can also affect the signal transmitted by electronic devices. Because of this, errors can occur in any part of the satellite's electronic system.
In addition, storms can disrupt satellite communications with Earth using radio waves. Many of the communication technologies (such as GPS) are based on radio waves. The atmosphere slightly distorts these waves, so specialists take this distortion into account when building communication systems. During geomagnetic storms, a signal shift can occur even by several meters. This will create problems for professionals in areas such as aviation, transportation, shipping, military, etc., who use GPS in their work.
Source: The Conversation