Re:Starlink lost 40 satellites to a geomagnetic storm
by cshimmin on Tuesday February 08, 2022 @09:34PM
(#30267981)
From the press release:
"up to 40 of the satellites will reenter or already have reentered the Earth’s atmosphere. The deorbiting satellites pose zero collision risk with other satellites and by design demise upon atmospheric reentry—meaning no orbital debris is created and no satellite parts hit the ground."
The satellites are deliberately inserted into a low orbit so that any that fail to initialize properly will get pulled down by atmospheric drag. After successful initialization, they travel to a higher orbit (where presumably deorbiting under failure is more of an issue).
"up to 40 of the satellites will reenter or already have reentered the Earth’s atmosphere. The deorbiting satellites pose zero collision risk with other satellites and by design demise upon atmospheric reentry—meaning no orbital debris is created and no satellite parts hit the ground."
The satellites are deliberately inserted into a low orbit so that any that fail to initialize properly will get pulled down by atmospheric drag. After successful initialization, they travel to a higher orbit (where presumably deorbiting under failure is more of an issue).