SpaceX suffered a setback in its Starlink satellite constellation project this week after a malfunction during launch resulted in the loss of 20 satellites. While the Musk-ownder company tried to salvage the situation, bad
space weather doomed the mission.
The incident occurred on Thursday night when the second-stage engine of a Falcon 9 rocket failed to complete its planned burn. This left the deployed
Starlink satellites in a much lower orbit than intended, where they encountered significant atmospheric drag.
At this level of drag, our maximum available thrust is unlikely to be enough to successfully raise the satellites, SpaceX said. The company attempted to use the satellites' onboard
ion thrusters to raise their orbits. However, the situation was further complicated by an unusually "puffed-up" atmosphere due to recent high
solar activity. This extra atmospheric drag sealed the fate of the satellites, even with the attempted thruster boost.
Also read: SpaceX Dragon Capsule debris as big as a car hood crash-landed in North Carolina. It's part of a major space trash problem.This incident marks a rare anomaly for the typically reliable Falcon 9, a workhorse for SpaceX missions. CEO
Elon Musk acknowledged the situation on social media, referencing Star Trek in a lighthearted attempt to explain the extreme measures taken: "We had them attempt to run the ion thrusters at 'warp 9' speed...but unlike a Star Trek episode, this will probably not work."
Meanwhile, the recent solar activity included a powerful
X-class solar flare from sunspot AR3738, which fortunately did not produce a geomagnetic storm. However, radiation from the solar flare ionised the top of Earth's atmosphere, causing shortwave radio blackouts over Australia, southeast Asia and Japan. Mariners and ham radio operators in the area may have noticed a 30-minute loss of signal at all frequencies below 25 MHz, spaceweather.com reported.
Forecasts suggest that further solar explosions are possible. The space industry will have to monitor the situation closely ahead on any future launches.
Related: Former SpaceX worker describes 'frat boy' culture where colleagues joked about overseeing launches while drunk 