Elon Musk's Starlink's satellite online service announced that 40 of the 49 Starlink satellites it launched on February 3 will be destroyed by a geomagnetic storm.
According to SpaceX, the storm caused "up to 50 percent more resistance than in previous launches", preventing developing satellites from reaching their proper orbit around the Earth. And while Starlink has tried to get them in the right place, it looks like up to 40 of them will burn up in Earth's atmosphere instead of reaching their destinations.
SpaceX recently surpassed the milestone of launching 2.000 satellites and has plans to launch 12.000, (or more), so losing 40 of those satellites may not be a big deal in the overall plan.
However, the 40 satellitesterms it is the majority of Starlink's launch capability from a Falcon 9 rocket and so the launch costs burned up in the atmosphere along with the satellites.
In its announcement about the geomagnetic storm, SpaceX takes this opportunity to argue how little the rockets affecttaxes of the heavens, which was disputed last month, as well as a new study heightens concern that Starlink satellites are leaving streaks on pictures of astronomers as they orbit. A fact that could prevent us from detecting dangerous asteroids.
