Latest news with #DennyOliveira
India Today
09-06-2025
- Science
- India Today
523 crashes: Musk's Starlink satellites are falling from space due to Sun's fury
Elon Musk's SpaceX has been responsible for deploying one of the biggest satellite networks in the Low Earth Orbit as it ramps up the launch of new Starlinks every week in a bid to provide global broadband they have come at a big consequence. The company has lost over 500 satellites in five year, a new analysis satellites have faced the brunt of the Sun's fury during Solar Cycle 25 which has seen intense activity from the star in our Solar System with several big coronal mass ejections that have triggered geomagnetic storms on Earth and chaos for satellites in Elon Musk's Starlink has lost 523 satellites from 2020 to 2024, the years associated with the peak of the Solar solar cycle is an approximately 11-year cycle that tracks the rise and fall of activity on the Sun's surface, particularly the number of sunspots — dark, cooler areas caused by magnetic activity. This cycle affects the Sun's magnetic field, solar flares, coronal mass ejections (CMEs), and the overall "space weather" that impacts Earth — including disruptions to satellites, GPS, and power the Sun is in maxima, a period during which the Sun is most active, sunspot counts are highest, and powerful solar flares and CMEs are more frequent.A team of scientists, led by space physicist Denny Oliveira of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center analysed the developments and wrote in a paper, "We clearly show that the intense solar activity of the current solar cycle has already had significant impacts on Starlink reentries."advertisementThe reason is the orbital decay rates (in km/day) of the satellites caused by increased drag forces from the solar radiation. It is worth mentioning that the biggest solar storm of the current cycle that hit Earth in 2024 led to instant crashing of 42 Starlink satellites that had been launched just days before into tracking the objects in the sky noted that in January 2025 alone, over 120 Starlink satellites re-entered Earth's atmosphere, and burned up creating spectacular the re-entries produce visually stunning fireballs, they also raise concerns about atmospheric pollution. The disintegration of satellites adds metallic vapours to the atmosphere.
NDTV
08-06-2025
- Science
- NDTV
Solar Storms Are Causing Elon Musk's Starlink Satellites To Fall From The Sky
The Sun's growing activity is affecting Earth's satellites, particularly those in the Starlink constellation launched by SpaceX. As the Sun approaches the peak of its 11-year cycle, increased geomagnetic storms are causing more satellites to fall out of orbit and re-enter the atmosphere. Denny Oliveira, a space physicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre, led a study on 523 Starlink satellites that fell back to Earth between 2020 and 2024. The study revealed that geomagnetic storms caused by the Sun's eruptions increased atmospheric drag, causing satellites to re-enter faster than expected. "We clearly show that the intense solar activity of the current solar cycle has already had significant impacts on Starlink reentries. This is a very exciting time in satellite orbital drag research, since the number of satellites in low-Earth orbit and solar activity are the highest ever observed in human history," the NASA team wrote in the paper. As per Science Alert, the solar cycle, an 11-year period of fluctuating solar activity, involves a magnetic reversal of the Sun's poles, marked by sunspots, solar flares, and coronal mass ejections. Activity peaks at solar maximum, when the poles flip, and declines to a minimum before rising again. We're currently at the peak of the 25th cycle, which has been stronger than predicted, though not the strongest recorded. This heightened activity impacts Earth significantly. Solar particles, carried by coronal mass ejections and solar wind, create vibrant auroras by interacting with the atmosphere. Less visibly, increased solar activity heats the upper atmosphere, causing it to expand. This expansion increases drag on spacecraft in low-Earth orbit, requiring trajectory adjustments to maintain their orbits. All low-orbit satellites are affected, but SpaceX's Starlink constellation, with 8,873 satellites launched and 7,669 still operational, provides a unique case study for analysing solar maximum on satellite operations. As a result, satellites need to make adjustments to maintain their trajectory, and the increased drag can even cause some to fall out of orbit. "Here, we use … Starlink orbital data to perform a superposed epoch analysis of orbital altitudes and velocities to identify impacts caused by storms with different intensities. The Starlink reentries coincide with the rising phase of solar cycle 25, a period with increasing solar activity," the researchers wrote. Starlink satellites Notably, SpaceX's Starlink satellites aim to provide global high-speed internet access, especially to remote areas with limited or no connectivity. Each Starlink satellite has a limited lifespan, which is typically less than five years. After this period, the satellites re-enter the atmosphere and burn up before reaching the ground. However, the growing number of satellites in Earth's orbit poses challenges beyond their benefits. One major concern is the obstruction they cause to astronomical observations, as these satellites can reflect sunlight and interfere with stargazing and scientific research. Further, the increased launches of human-made satellites are contributing to the accumulation of space junk in Earth's orbit.
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
The Sun's Fury Is Making SpaceX Satellites Plummet From The Sky
The Sun is the angriest it's been in a while – and it's taking out that rage on the thousands of tiny satellites that make up SpaceX's Starlink fleet. A new analysis of Starlink satellites falling from the sky has revealed a distinct pattern: as the Sun escalated towards the peak of its activity cycle between 2020 and 2024, so too did the number of satellite falls as a direct result of that activity. A team of scientists, led by space physicist Denny Oliveira of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, studied 523 Starlink satellites that fell back down towards Earth during that time, and found a clear link with the Sun. "We clearly show that the intense solar activity of the current solar cycle has already had significant impacts on Starlink reentries," they write in their paper. "This is a very exciting time in satellite orbital drag research, since the number of satellites in low-Earth orbit and solar activity are the highest ever observed in human history." The solar cycle is an 11-year cycle of fluctuations in the Sun's activity that centers around a periodic magnetic reversal of the solar poles. It primarily manifests as sunspots, solar flares, and coronal mass ejections that steadily increase towards solar maximum (when the poles flip), and then wanes to a minimum before inching back up again. It's just the Sun's normal way to be, and we're currently at the peak of the 25th cycle since we started keeping track of them. It's actually been a pretty strong cycle; not the strongest on record, but still displaying much more solar activity than scientists predicted at its beginning. This means that its effects on Earth have been pretty strong. You may have noticed a lot of aurora activity; that's the effect of solar particles pummeling Earth's atmosphere, borne by coronal mass ejections and the solar wind. But the increase in solar activity has another, less noticeable effect: the increase in solar ejections buffeting the upper atmosphere heats it up significantly. We don't notice it here on the surface. But the increased energy puffs up the atmosphere – enough to increase the amount of drag on spacecraft in low-Earth orbit. This means they cannot hold course at their current trajectory, and need to make adjustments to remain in the sky. To be clear, all satellites in low-Earth orbit are vulnerable to the increase in drag associated with solar activity. To date, however, SpaceX has launched 8,873 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit, of which 7,669 remain operational. These sheer numbers provide an excellent laboratory for studying the effect of solar maximum on satellites in low-Earth orbit. "Here, we use … Starlink orbital data to perform a superposed epoch analysis of orbital altitudes and velocities in order to identify impacts caused by storms with different intensities," the researchers write. "The Starlink reentries coincide with the rising phase of solar cycle 25, a period with increasing solar activity." SpaceX first started launching Starlink satellites in 2019, and the first atmospheric reentries began in 2020. Initially these figures stayed relatively low. There were just two in 2020. In 2021, 78 satellites fell; 99 in 2022, and 88 in 2023. But then 2024 saw a whopping increase – a total of 316 Starlink satellites fell out of the sky. The researchers grouped these reentries according to the geomagnetic conditions at the time – that is, how powerfully solar activity was affecting Earth. Oddly, some 72 percent of all reentries occurred during weak geomagnetic conditions, not the powerful geomagnetic storms. This, the researchers found, was because of the cumulative effect of drag over the rising period of the solar cycle. Rather than being taken down in one fell swoop, the orbits of these satellites degraded subtly over time. Meanwhile, the satellites that did fall during strong geomagnetic conditions fell faster than those that fell in weaker conditions. It's fascinating stuff, actually. We don't have a lot of data on this phenomenon; the work of Oliveira and his colleagues may help design strategies to mitigate the orbital decay induced by solar activity, keeping satellites in low-Earth orbit where they should be (and not, for example, smacking into other satellites and triggering a nasty Kessler cascade). "Our results are promising because they point in the direction of using short-cadence Starlink data (precise orbit determination, neutral mass density, ram direction area, drag coefficient) for the improvement of orbital drag models during geomagnetic storms, particularly during extreme events," the researchers write. The paper has been accepted for publication in Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Science, and is available on arXiv. Astronomers Just Discovered The Biggest Explosions Since The Big Bang Titan's Atmosphere 'Wobbles Like a Gyroscope' – And No One Knows Why A 'Crazy Idea' About Pluto Was Just Confirmed in a Scientific First
Gizmodo
01-06-2025
- Science
- Gizmodo
Solar Storms Are Pushing Elon Musk's Satellites Back to Earth
New research suggests that heightened solar activity shortens the lifespans of SpaceX's Starlink satellites, and may send them careening back to Earth at greater velocities. Perhaps unintuitively, this could increase the risk of satellite debris making landfall. This preprint study, which has yet to undergo peer review, adds to a wealth of evidence showing that solar storms wreak havoc on Elon Musk's Starlinks. Over the last several years, the frequency and intensity of these storms have increased as the Sun approaches solar maximum—the peak in its 11-year cycle. At the same time, the number of satellites orbiting Earth has skyrocketed, largely due to the rise of private megaconstellations like Starlink. A team of researchers led by Denny Oliveira from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center tracked reentries of Starlink satellites between 2020 and 2024. This period coincided with the rising phase of the current solar cycle, when solar activity ramps up ahead of the solar maximum, which occurred in October 2024. Over the course of those five years, 523 Starlink satellites reentered Earth's atmosphere. Oliveira and his colleagues analyzed the orbits of these satellites using a statistical technique that identifies patterns in how their rates of orbital decay and reentry change during periods of high solar activity. The researchers found that geomagnetic activity—disturbances in the upper atmosphere triggered by solar eruptions—causes Starlinks to reenter Earth's atmosphere sooner than expected. These satellites are designed to remain in orbit for roughly five years. But during bouts of severe geomagnetic storms, their lifespans may be reduced by 10 to 12 days, Oliveira told Gizmodo. He and his colleagues believe this happens because geomagnetic activity heats the atmosphere and causes it to expand. This increases drag on satellites, shortening their lifespans and causing them to lose altitude more quickly as they interact with the upper atmosphere. What's more, atmospheric drag may increase the chances of satellite-on-satellite collisions, as the orbital models that guide collision avoidance measures don't fully account for the effects of geomagnetic activity. The team's findings are currently available on the preprint server arXiv. A difference of 10 to 12 days may not sound like a big deal, but it could make it nearly impossible for SpaceX to ensure that Starlink satellites return to Earth via controlled reentry, Oliveira explained. What's more, his analysis shows that increased drag causes satellites to reenter at higher velocities, which he believes could raise the chances of debris reaching the ground. This may seem counterintuitive, since increasing the velocity of an object during reentry generally increases the likelihood of total disintegration. But Oliveira posits that Starlinks falling at greater speeds may have a better chance of surviving reentry due to reduced atmospheric interaction. Further research will need to confirm this hypothesis, as the study did not directly assess debris risks. Starlinks are designed to fully burn up during reentry, but that doesn't always happen. In 2024, a 5.5-pound (2.5-kilogram) chunk of Starlink debris made landfall on a farm in Saskatchewan, New Scientist reported. In February of this year, SpaceX said it is possible for Starlink debris fragments to fall back to Earth, but claimed that this poses 'no risk to humans on the ground, at sea, or in the air.' There are now more than 7,500 Starlinks in orbit, according to Harvard University astronomer Jonathan McDowell, who tracks the constellation. Eventually, SpaceX hopes to quintuple the size of this fleet, with a goal of launching 42,000 Starlinks in total, according to This is in addition to the thousands of other satellites currently orbiting Earth. '[This is] the first time ever in history that we have so many satellites in orbit at the same time,' Oliveira said. 'So, now, we have satellites reentering pretty much every week. And possibly, in the next months or years, every day.' Understanding how changes in solar activity impact their lifespans and their reentries will be critical as Earth's orbit becomes increasingly crowded.
Yahoo
31-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Something Surprising Is Destroying Elon Musk's Starlink Satellites
Now that more than 7,000 Starlink satellites are orbiting our planet, scientists have been given a golden opportunity to study the effects the Sun's activity can have on the aggregate lifespans of such minimalist, constellation-based spacecraft. As New Scientist reports, it's turning out that ferocious solar storms caused by the Sun pelting our atmosphere with energized particles can significantly reduce the crafts' lifetimes, by prematurely pushing them to burn up during reentry. That's especially true as the Sun nears the most active part of its 11-year cycle, called the solar maximum. "We found that when we have geomagnetic storms, satellites re-enter faster than expected [without solar activity]," NASA Goddard Space Flight Center scientist Denny Oliveira, who's been investigating these effects, told New Scientist. During the solar maximum, a given Starlink satellite's lifetime can be reduced by up to ten days, demonstrating the Sun's immense influence on the outer space surrounding our planet, despite the enormous distance. While it's technically not a new phenomenon, the Elon Musk-0wned company's enormous Starlink constellation has shed light on how solar activity is causing satellites to reenter earlier than expected. "It's the first time in history we have so many satellites re-entering at the same time," Oliveira told New Scientist. Scientists tracked a whopping 523 Starlink satellites reentering between just 2020 and 2024. "In a few years, we will have satellites re-entering every day," the NASA scientist added. "This is the first solar maximum that we've had in the mega constellation era," University of Regina astrophysicist Samantha Lawler told the publication. "So it is important to do these measurements." Last year, Musk warned of "degraded" Starlink broadband service as the Earth was being battered by a ferocious storm. While the satellites endured at the time, a 2022 storm knocked out 40 satellites. Starlink's satellites are designed to both intentionally lower their orbit to meet their demise and naturally be pulled towards it when something goes wrong. But by accelerating this process, Oliveira warns that pieces of the satellites may survive reentry, allowing bits to plummet back to the ground. There has been a single instance of an identified piece of Starlink satellite, which was recovered on a Canadian farm last summer, as SpaceX claimed in a notice at the time. However, with intense geomagnetic storms still on the horizon and thousands of planned Starlink satellites that are scheduled to be launched, many more pieces could make their way through the atmosphere unharmed as well. "If we found one [piece] here, how many did we miss?" Lawler told New Scientist. More on Starlink: It Looks an Awful Lot Like Elon Musk Is Awarding a Huge Government Contract to Himself
