Geomagnetic storm burns up to 40 of Elon Musk's SpaceX satellites sent into orbit last week
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Forty out of the 49 satellites Elon Musk's SpaceX sent into orbit last week were wiped out by a geomagnetic storm on Friday, the company announced in an update.
The Starlink satellites were launched on Feb. 3 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and with an intended orbit 130 miles above Earth.
"Unfortunately, the satellites deployed on Thursday were significantly impacted by a geomagnetic storm on Friday," the statement said.
The "moderate" geomagnetic storm was caused by a solar flare over the weekend and made the northern lights visible to people in the northern part of the U.S.
According to the Space Weather Prediction Center, geomagnetic storms occur when there is a large exchange of energy from solar wind that enters the space surrounding Earth.
The storm caused the atmospheric drag to increase by 50% than previous launches, and the Starlink team tried to put the satellites in safe mode to “take cover from the storm.” But the drag from the storm prevented more than 80% of the satellites from reaching their destination, according to Tuesday's update.
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Up to 40 of the satellites will burn up in Earth's atmosphere as they reenter, but pose a zero collision risk with other satellites and no parts will hit the ground, the update said.
SpaceX has launched more than 2,000 Starlink satellites into orbit in an effort to expand broadband internet service to rural and remote communities.
"This unique situation demonstrates the great lengths the Starlink team has gone to ensure the system is on the leading edge of on-orbit debris mitigation," the update said.
Contributing: Jordan Mendoza, Michelle Shen, Elizabeth Pattman
Follow reporter Asha Gilbert @Coastalasha. Email: agilbert@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Geomagnetic storm destroys up to 40 of Elon Musk's SpaceX satellites
