The Sun’s Fury Is Making SpaceX Satellites Plummet From The Sky
“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.”
https://www.sciencealert.com/the-suns-fury-is-making-spacex-satellites-plummet-from-the-sky
08 June 2025