American Space Exploration Technology Corporation said that as many as 40 of the 49 "star chain" satellites launched by the company on March 3 were damaged the next day due to geomagnetic storms. It is believed that this is the largest damage to the satellite caused by a single geomagnetic storm. Failed to save According to an update on the official website of the space exploration technology company on the 8th, the company routinely launched 49 "star chain" satellites into orbit lower than the predetermined orbit on the 3rd. After preliminary testing of these satellites, it is ready to send them into a predetermined orbit 210 kilometers above the ground. "Unfortunately," the space exploration technology company said, a site magnetic storm on the 4th had a serious impact on these satellites, warming the atmosphere in the area where the satellites are located, increasing the density, and increasing the atmospheric resistance by as much as 50% compared with the previous launch level. The "star chain" team then controlled the satellite to enter the safe flight mode and let the satellite fly "sideways" to reduce atmospheric resistance. However, most satellites have been unable to return to normal mode after entering safe mode, so "up to 40 satellites will re-enter or have re-entered the earth's atmosphere". The space exploration technology company said that the risk of collision between the derailed satellite and other satellites is "zero", which will burn up after re-entry into the atmosphere, and there will be no debris left in space or debris falling to the ground. Ignore warnings? According to Reuters, before the launch of these "star chain" satellites, the U.S. space weather forecast center predicted a possible geomagnetic storm. The center previously warned that a strong solar flare activity was detected on January 29. The ejected material and energy may reach the earth as early as February 1, and the geomagnetic storm may last until February 3. Flare is an active phenomenon of sudden brightening in local areas of the solar atmosphere, which will be accompanied by sharply enhanced electromagnetic radiation, solar proton events (a large number of high-energy charged particle flows) and coronal mass ejection. When the material and energy ejected by these activities reach near earth space, they will strongly disturb the earth's magnetosphere, ionosphere and upper atmosphere, causing geomagnetic storms. Jonathan McDowell, an expert at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, believes that the damage caused by geomagnetic storms to satellites this time is the largest single damage, and it is also the first time that large-scale damage has been caused to satellites due to the increase of atmospheric density. McDowell said it was unclear whether the increase in atmospheric resistance caused by geomagnetic storms exceeded the design limit of the satellite, or whether space exploration technology companies mistakenly believed that the satellite could withstand such resistance. He said that from the statement of the space exploration technology company, they did not expect to have to deal with such atmospheric resistance, "as if they did not pay attention to the space weather forecast". CNN quoted bill Mehta, the program coordinator of the US space weather forecast center, as saying that the personnel in charge of satellite launch usually pay close attention to the space weather before launch, but different companies have different standards to judge whether the space weather will affect the launch. The space exploration technology company has not responded to media inquiries about the company's pre launch assessment of space weather. Loss unknown The economic losses caused by the incident are unclear. The space exploration technology company has not disclosed the cost of the "star chain" satellite. According to CNN, Gwen schottewell, President of the company, said in 2019 that the cost of each satellite was far less than $1 million. According to Reuters, the "star chain" project previously planned to launch 12000 low altitude orbiting satellites into space from 2019 to 2024, build a network to provide Internet services, and then increase the planned number of launches to about 30000. Elon Musk, CEO of space exploration technology company, said in a social media message on January 15 that the "star chain" project has nearly 1500 working satellites, and another 272 satellites are moving to the predetermined orbit. Before reaching the predetermined orbit, the "star chain" satellite shall undergo preliminary detection in the orbit at a lower altitude. If the problem is exposed, it will re-enter the earth's atmosphere under the operation of ground control personnel and burn up in the process, so as not to interfere with other satellites. The space exploration technology company said that it is rare for satellites to expose problems at this stage. The purpose of arranging this step is just in case. (Xinhua News Agency)