The Loss of Starlink Satellites in February 2022: How Moderate Geomagnetic Storms Can Adversely Affect Assets in Low-Earth Orbit

IF 3.7 2区 地球科学
Space Weather Pub Date : 2024-04-06 DOI:10.1029/2023sw003716
Yoshita Baruah, Souvik Roy, Suvadip Sinha, Erika Palmerio, Sanchita Pal, Denny M. Oliveira, Dibyendu Nandy
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Abstract

On 3 February 2022, SpaceX launched 49 Starlink satellites, 38 of which unexpectedly de-orbited. Although this event was attributed to space weather, definitive causality remained elusive because space weather conditions were not extreme. In this study, we identify solar sources of the interplanetary coronal mass ejections that were responsible for the geomagnetic storms around the time of launch of the Starlink satellites and for the first time, investigate their impact on Earth's magnetosphere using magnetohydrodynamic modeling. The model results demonstrate that the satellites were launched into an already disturbed space environment that persisted over several days. However, on performing comparative satellite orbital decay analyses, we find that space weather alone was not responsible but conspired together with a low-altitude insertion and low satellite mass-to-area ratio to precipitate this unusual loss. Our work bridges space weather causality across the Sun–Earth system—with relevance for space-based human technologies.
2022 年 2 月 Starlink 卫星的损失:中度地磁暴如何对低地轨道资产造成不利影响
2022 年 2 月 3 日,SpaceX 发射了 49 颗 Starlink 卫星,其中 38 颗卫星意外脱离轨道。尽管这一事件被归因于空间天气,但由于空间天气条件并不极端,因此仍然无法确定其因果关系。在这项研究中,我们确定了星际日冕物质抛射的太阳源,这些日冕物质抛射是 Starlink 卫星发射前后地磁暴的罪魁祸首,并首次使用磁流体动力模型研究了它们对地球磁层的影响。模型结果表明,卫星发射时的空间环境已经受到干扰,并持续了数天。然而,在对卫星轨道衰减进行比较分析后,我们发现这并不是空间天气本身的原因,而是与低空插入和低卫星质量与面积比共同造成了这次不寻常的损失。我们的工作为整个太阳-地球系统的空间天气因果关系架起了桥梁--这与天基人类技术息息相关。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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