<keyword id="19905255" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="SpaceX" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="SpaceX" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="SpaceX">SpaceX</keyword> 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 <keyword id="20087207" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="space-weather" source="keywords">space weather</keyword> 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 <keyword id="19998609" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Starlink-satellites" source="keywords">Starlink satellites</keyword> 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 <keyword id="22415598" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ion-thrusters" source="keywords">ion thrusters</keyword> to raise their orbits. However, the situation was further complicated by an unusually "puffed-up" atmosphere due to recent high <keyword id="20792842" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="solar-activity" source="keywords">solar activity</keyword>. This extra atmospheric drag sealed the fate of the satellites, even with the attempted thruster boost. Also read: <a class="tout-title-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-nasa-need-better-space-debris-models-reduce-impact-risk-2024-7">SpaceX Dragon Capsule debris as big as a car hood crash-landed in North Carolina. It's part of a major space trash problem.</a> This incident marks a rare anomaly for the typically reliable Falcon 9, a workhorse for SpaceX missions. CEO <keyword id="19903807" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Elon-Musk" source="keywords">Elon Musk</keyword> 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 <keyword id="13895659" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="x-class-solar-flare" source="Orion">X-class solar flare</keyword> 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: <a class="tout-title-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-frat-boy-culture-workers-reportedly-planned-drinking-games-email-2024-7">Former SpaceX worker describes 'frat boy' culture where colleagues joked about overseeing launches while drunk</a>

20 Starlink satellites rained down on Earth yesterday; turbulent space weather doomed mission recovery

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="6360701" type="DEFINITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="spacex">SpaceX</keyword> has launched nearly 900 <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starlink-satellite-internet-beta-testing-public-service-licensing-military-2020-10">Starlink internet satellites</a>, with plans for a constellation of 12,000 to 42,000 spacecraft this decade.</li><li>The company says its <keyword id="41530" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="satellites">satellites</keyword> can avoid collisions using an ion drive, but about 2.5% may have failed because they are no longer maneuvering in orbit, according to astronomer Jonathan McDowell.</li><li>Orbiting satellites that can't be maneuvered can crash into other spacecraft and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-elon-musk-42000-starlink-satellites-earth-effects-stars-2020-10">generate dangerous space debris</a>.</li><li>Until recently the apparent failure rate was about 3%, but new batches of <keyword id="7612156" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="starlink">Starlink</keyword> spacecraft seem to have improved the average rate to around 2.5%.</li><li>A roughly 2.5% failure rate isn't too bad in the industry, McDowell says, but if that number holds for SpaceX's entire planned fleet, it may lead to more than 1,000 dead satellites.</li></ul>SpaceX is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-broke-satellite-launch-record-one-month-2020-6">launching satellites</a> into space by the dozens to realize Starlink, a globe-encircling constellation of spacecraft that beam affordable, high-speed internet <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starlink-unlikely-winner-fcc-rural-digital-opportunity-fund-subsidy-2020-8">across Earth</a>.So far, the scheme — envisioned by SpaceX founder <keyword id="6355315" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="elon-musk">Elon Musk</keyword> in 2015 — seems to be working. The aerospace company has even <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starlink-enough-satellites-to-launch-public-beta-2020-10">opened a public beta test</a> across the northern US and southern Canada for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starlink-public-beta-how-to-join-price-cost-subscription-2020-10">$99 a month</a>, plus $499 for a startup kit."Other countries to follow as soon as we receive regulatory approval," Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1313462965778157569?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1313462965778157569%7Ctwgr%5Eshare_3&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessinsider.com%2Fspacex-starlink-enough-satellites-to-launch-public-beta-2020-100-10" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted</a> on October 8.However, the unprecedented project has left a trail of seemingly unresponsive spacecraft in its wake. All of the satellites are designed to be maneuverable in space using an ion engine, and even deorbit themselves to burn up in Earth's atmosphere. But satellites with malfunctioning communication or propulsion systems can fly uncontrolled and pose a hazard to other satellites, and even astronauts, circling Earth.SpaceX launched its first batch of 60 prototypes <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starlink-internet-satellites-weird-deployment-video-2019-5">in May 2019</a> and, to date, has flown 895 total Starlink internet satellites. But so far around 2.5% of those spacecraft may have failed, according to data collected by Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics."I would say their failure rate is not egregious," McDowell told Business Insider in early October. "It's not worse than anybody else's failure rates. The concern is that even a normal failure rate in such a huge constellation is going to end up with a lot of bad space junk."Some of those failures may be intentional tests, but how many (if any) is not publicly known because SpaceX hasn't released such information. As a result, astronomers like McDowell have resorted to analyzing <a href="https://www.planet4589.org/space/stats/megacon/starbad.html">satellite-movement data</a> gleaned from SpaceX and the US government, showing which Starlink satellites have fallen back toward Earth and which ones are not maneuvering. (McDowell's failure calculations do not include 45 "version 0.9" satellites that SpaceX is known to have intentionally deorbited.)<div type="image" title="starlink satellites flat packed stack payload falcon 9 rocket spacex twitter D7THAABVUAATipL" height="675" width="900" msid="78702204" hostid="261"></div>Before the end of October, McDowell was measuring a 3% apparent failure rate, but a recent reanalysis indicates improvement in the newest Starlink batches. Of the last 413 "version 1.0" satellites, only one appears to have died, giving these batches a failure rate of just 0.2%. Still, McDowell notes that many of these satellites have only been in space for a few months, so more of them are likely to fail going forward."Nevertheless it does seem that the reliability of the satellites has noticeably increased," he <a href="https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1321843474270965760" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted</a> on October 29.SpaceX has permission from the US government to launch nearly 12,000 Starlink satellites through 2027, though it's asked to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-starlink-internet-satellites-itc-filing-30000-additional-42000-total-2019-10">launch 30,000 more</a> for a total of nearly 42,000. In either case, SpaceX is on track to form a "megaconstellation" that outnumbers all prior spacecraft ever launched by humanity. If 3% of the maximum planned Starlink constellation fails, that could mean 1,260 dead, 550-pound satellites the size of a desk aimlessly circling the planet. A 2.5% failure rate could mean more than 1,000 inoperative spacecraft.There were about 3,200 nonfunctional satellites in Earth's orbit as of February, according to the <a href="https://www.esa.int/Safety_Security/Space_Debris/Space_debris_by_the_numbers">European Space Agency</a>. Many of these dead spacecraft regularly threaten to collide with others and create a space-debris crisis. In mid October, for example, satellite trackers flagged a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/soviet-satellite-chinese-rocket-might-crash-in-space-2020-10">"very high risk" close pass between a dead satellite and a discarded rocket body</a>, with one company calculating a 10% chance of collision. (Fortunately, they didn't.)SpaceX says its satellites will naturally deorbit, or burn up in Earth's atmosphere, if their propulsion systems don't work. But that process can take up to five years, according to <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201014004938/https://www.starlink.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Starlink's website</a>. In the meantime, defunct satellites rocket around Earth faster than a bullet, with nobody to steer them away from other spacecraft that may fly in their path.SpaceX did not acknowledge Business Insider's requests for comment. However, in <a href="https://licensing.fcc.gov/myibfs/download.do?attachment_key=1210290" target="_blank" rel="noopener">filings</a> to the Federal Communications Commission, SpaceX has downplayed the risk, stating that it "views satellite failure to deorbit rates of 10 or 5 percent as unacceptable, and even a rate of 1 percent is unlikely."If 1% of its satellites did fail with no capacity to maneuver, the company said, "there is approximately a 1 percent chance per decade that any failed SpaceX satellite would collide with a piece of tracked debris."The company also claimed that its practices "effectively eliminate the chance that such rates will ever occur."<h2>Dead satellites can collide and build up a space-debris crisis</h2><div type="image" title="india anti satellite missile asat test mission shakti space debris junk cloud field orbit simulation march 2019 analytical graphics inc 2" height="902" width="1202" msid="78702205" hostid="261"></div>SpaceX is not alone in pushing to launch large numbers of internet satellites. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/oneweb-to-resume-launches-in-december-eyes-commercial-service-in-2021-2020-9">OneWeb</a>, which the UK government recently <a href="https://spacenews.com/fcc-approves-oneweb-sale-as-starlink-begins-public-beta/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">purchased out of bankruptcy</a>, has already launched 74 satellites for its proposed constellation of 48,000, while Amazon aims to launch more than 3,200 for its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-project-kuiper-satellite-internet-factory-redmond-washington-2019-12">Kuiper fleet</a>. It's unclear how many dead satellites those constellations might also leave in orbit.Since nobody can maneuver them, failed satellites sometimes hurtle toward other spacecraft — including the International Space Station and its crew of astronauts.Even if a satellite crashes into another satellite with no humans on board, it can create perilous conditions. "We replace two satellites with essentially two shotgun blasts of debris," Dan Ceperley, the CEO of satellite-tracking company LeoLabs, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-air-force-satellites-might-crash-in-space-over-pittsburgh-2020-1">told Business Insider in January</a>. That month, two dead satellites <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-air-force-satellites-might-crash-in-space-over-pittsburgh-2020-1">almost crossed paths</a> and exploded into hundreds of thousands of bits of debris.<div type="image" title="satellite debris collision experiment simulation explosion" height="1" width="1" msid="78702206" hostid="261"></div>It wouldn't have been the first such explosion, and it doesn't take many to exacerbate the debris problem. In 2007, China tested an anti-satellite missile by <a href="https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/chinas-anti-satellite-test" target="_blank" rel="noopener">obliterating one of its own weather satellites</a>. Two years later, one American and one Russian spacecraft accidentally collided. Those two events alone increased the amount of large debris in low-Earth orbit <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/centers/hq/library/find/bibliographies/space_debris">by about 70%</a>.India conducted its own anti-satellite missile test in 2019, and the explosion created an estimated <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/india-anti-satellite-missile-test-space-debris-cloud-2019-3">6,500 pieces of debris</a> larger than an eraser.All in all, more than 500 such "fragmentation events" have created nearly <a href="https://www.esa.int/Safety_Security/Space_Debris/Space_debris_by_the_numbers" target="_blank" rel="noopener">130 million</a> bits of debris in Earth's orbit. Those chunks of debris zip around the planet at more than 17,500 mph, or roughly 10 times the speed of a bullet.That's not only a problem for robotic spacecraft, but ones carrying people. Just last month, a piece of debris <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-unknown-orbital-debris-narrowly-missed-striking-iss-avoidance-maneuver-2020-9">careened within a mile</a> of the football field-sized space laboratory. To avoid a collision, mission controllers fired the thrusters of an attached Russian cargo spaceship to maneuver the station out of possible harm's way. The three crew members sealed themselves inside an ISS segment with a Soyuz spaceship, so they could escape if the debris struck.<div type="image" title="space shuttle endeavour wing debris junk hit hole damage nasa" height="672" width="896" msid="78702212" hostid="261"></div>If the space-junk problem gets extreme, a chain of collisions could spiral out of control and surround Earth in a practically <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/space-junk-kessler-syndrome-chain-reaction-prevention-2018-3">impassable field of debris</a>. This possibility is known as the Kessler syndrome, after Donald J. Kessler, who worked for NASA's Johnson Space Center and calculated in a 1978 paper that it could take hundreds or even thousands of years for such debris to clear up enough to make spaceflight safe again."It is a long-term effect that takes place over decades and centuries," Ted Muelhaupt, who leads The Aerospace Corporation's satellite system analysis, previously <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-air-force-satellites-might-crash-in-space-over-pittsburgh-2020-1">told</a> Business Insider. "Anything that makes a lot of debris is going to increase that risk."The sheer number of objects in Earth's orbit may already be having a Kessler-like effect, as Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck described last week.<div type="image" title="space debris satellites earth orbit" height="1080" width="1440" msid="78702216" hostid="261"></div>"This has a massive impact on the launch side," he told <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/07/business/rocket-lab-debris-launch-traffic-scn/index.html">CNN Business</a>, adding that rockets "have to try and weave their way up in between these [satellite] constellations."<h2>Starlink is already a space-debris hazard </h2>SpaceX has barely launched 2% of its planned constellation, but it has already had a close call.In September 2019, the European Space Agency had to maneuver one of its spacecraft at the last minute to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-didnt-move-starlink-satellite-after-crash-warning-due-to-bug-2019-9">avoid possibly colliding with a Starlink satellite</a>. The chance of that crash was 1 in 1,000. While that may sound low, NASA routinely moves the ISS for chances of 1 in 100,000.The ESA said it had to move its satellite because SpaceX had "no plan to take action." SpaceX said it missed the ESA emails about the issue due to a "bug" in its communications systems.<div type="image" title="spacex starlink internet satellite spacecraft solar panels arrays earth orbit illustration 00002" height="1080" width="1440" msid="78702218" hostid="261"></div>Overall, close approaches like that seem to be happening more frequently."We are seeing recently a decided uptick in the number of conjunctions," Dan Oltrogge, an astrodynamicist at Analytical Graphics, Inc, where he uses a software that has been assessing conjunction data since 2005, told Business Insider. "And it looks to be very well aligned with the new large-constellation spacecraft that have been launched."As new <keyword id="518734" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="satellite-constellations">satellite constellations</keyword> launch, regulatory agencies like the FCC may need to evaluate how many dead spacecraft they're willing to accept."What is an acceptable failure rate?" McDowell said. "That, I'm maybe not competent to have an opinion on."This story has been updated with new information. It was originally published on October 16, 2020.

About 1 in 40 of SpaceX's Starlink satellites may have failed. That's not too bad, but across a 42,000-spacecraft constellation it could spark a crisis.

Welcome back, folks. Today we've got the latest on Amazon's plans <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-project-kuiper-launch-spacex-starlink-competitor-satellite-internet-broadband-2021-11">to sell you the internet</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/strange-black-hole-spotted-on-google-maps-fuels-online-debate-2021-10">a mysterious "black hole"</a> discovered by a Reddit user.Shall we?<hr />If this was forwarded to you, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/subscription/newsletter/10-things-in-tech">sign up here</a>. Download Insider's app - click <a href="https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id554260576">here for iOS</a> and <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.freerange360.mpp.businessinsider">here for Android</a>.<hr /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-project-kuiper-launch-spacex-starlink-competitor-satellite-internet-broadband-2021-11"></a>1. Amazon wants to provide you internet (from space). By the end of 2022, the company will launch two prototype satellites as part of Project Kuiper, a broadband service that will <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-project-kuiper-launch-spacex-starlink-competitor-satellite-internet-broadband-2021-11">beam internet down from space.</a><ul><li>Amazon is a few steps behind Elon Musk's Starlink, which has already launched about 2,000 satellites and garnered thousands of beta testers. It's just the latest in the ongoing space race between Musk and Amazon's former CEO Jeff Bezos. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-elon-musk-rivalry-history-timeline-2020-7">Here's a look at the billionaires' 15-year rivalry.</a></li><li>Satellite-internet providers could eventually bring high-speed internet to people without reliable access, making it especially valuable for people living in remote areas. For example: After moving to rural Vermont, one of our writers tested out Starlink, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/i-tried-starlink-beta-vermont-compared-hughes-net-elon-musk-2021-3">and found it was a game changer.</a></li><li>Okay, but how does satellite-based internet actually work? Ah, great question. <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/9/26/21457530/elon-musk-spacex-starlink-satellite-broadband-amazon-project-kuiper-viasat">Vox has a helpful explainer.</a></li></ul><hr />In other news:<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-car-crash-detection-feature-auto-dials-911-2021-11"><div type="image" title="Tim Cook and iPhone 13" height="1059" width="1413" msid="87486662" hostid="261"></div></a>2. Apple is planning a feature that auto-dials 911 after car accidents. "Crash detection," which would measure sudden spikes in gravity to detect a car wreck, is slated to debut on iPhones and Apple Watches next year. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-car-crash-detection-feature-auto-dials-911-2021-11">Everything we know so far.</a>3. Digital end-of-life services are booming. The death-tech industry - filled with apps that make posthumous videos of loved ones, chatbots that let you "talk" with dead relatives, and companies that clean up online presences after death - is surging. But not everybody says that's a good thing, and experts <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/digital-end-of-life-care-companies-funeral-startups-business-booming-2021-10">are questioning the ethics of deathcare companies.</a>4. Elon Musk said he'd donate $6 billion if the UN can prove it'd solve a hunger crisis. The UN said the donation could save 42 million people from famine. If it can prove that, Musk said he'd <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/musk-sell-tesla-stock-if-6-billion-solves-world-hunger-2021-11">sell Tesla stocks and donate the proceeds.</a> It's not the first time Musk has tried to fix a humanitarian disaster - <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-efforts-humanitarian-crises-and-their-status-2018-7">here are the other problems he's tried to solve, and how it's going.</a>5. These Salesforce leaders are helping build the cloud giant's product strategy. Each of Salesforce's products are overseen by a general manager who acts as a CEO of their unit, and helps the company take on industry rivals like Microsoft and Oracle. We outlined Salesforce's 12 most powerful product leaders - <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/salesforce-most-important-product-leaders-executives-managers-microsoft-oracle-2021-10">meet them here.</a>6. Apple's iPhone privacy upgrade cost Big <keyword id="6358815" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="tech" source="Orion">Tech</keyword> nearly $10 billion in ad revenue. The change requires apps to ask users' permission to track them for advertising purposes, and has cost platforms like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Snap billions of dollars, The Financial Times reports. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-iphone-privacy-facebook-youtube-twitter-snap-lose-10-billion-2021-11">How the update affected tech giants.</a>7. Amazon is reshuffling its Prime leadership to focus on international growth. The marketplace giant has moved its Prime team under Russell Grandinetti, Amazon's SVP of international business, as the US market has become saturated. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-reshuffles-prime-leadership-to-focus-on-international-markets-2021-11?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T">Here's more on the pivot detailed in an internal email.</a>8. A former SpaceX vice president told us what it's like to work with Elon Musk. Hans Koenigsmann, an aerospace engineer and former VP, described Musk's "unique perspective" and said the billionaire CEO "expects a lot, and that's a challenge."<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-spacex-hans-koenigsmann-7th-hire-work-tesla-2021-10"> Read what else he told Insider about working with Musk.</a>9. A Reddit user found a mysterious "black hole" on Google Maps. It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a… secret portal? Reddit users have been debating about a black spot found in the middle of the ocean on Google Maps, coming up with theories from a Maps malfunction to a secretive military base. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/strange-black-hole-spotted-on-google-maps-fuels-online-debate-2021-10">See what all the buzz is about.</a>10. Peloton and Delta are teaming up. Delta's seat-back screens will now offer passengers five stretching and meditation classes from fitness giant Peloton. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/peloton-delta-in-flight-stretching-meditation-classes-2021-11">More on Peloton at 30,000 feet.</a><hr />What we're watching today:<ul><li>The COP26 climate conference continues through Nov. 12.</li><li>Activision Blizzard, Lyft, and Zillow are reporting their Q3 earnings today. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/earnings-calendar">Keep up with earnings here.</a></li></ul><hr />Curated by Jordan Parker Erb in New York. (Feedback or tips? Email <a href="mailto:jerb@insider.com">jerb@insider.com</a> or tweet <a href="https://twitter.com/jordanparkererb?lang=en">@jordanparkererb</a>.) Edited by Michael Cogley in London.

You Searched For "starlink satellite malfunction" and got 3 results

20 Starlink satellites rained down on Earth yesterday; turbulent space weather doomed mission recovery

Ashmita Gupta

About 1 in 40 of SpaceX's Starlink satellites may have failed. That's not too bad, but across a 42,000-spacecraft constellation it could spark a crisis.

Morgan McFall-Johnsen

10 things in tech you need to know today

Jordan Parker Erb