In the 21st century with more than 7,000 satellites, speaking only of Starlink, orbiting the planet to bring the internet to the most remote places on Earth, a silent and colossal threat begins to manifest itself, it does not come from the Earth or from humans but from our Sun, a cosmic force that even millions of kilometers away is causing a phenomenon that makes Elon Musk's satellites fall like flies and now scientists are racing against time to understand what is really happening.
The idea behind the Starlink constellation is bold, to create an orbital mesh that provides fast and accessible internet anywhere on the planet. Each satellite is designed to operate in low orbit, which facilitates communication, but it also makes them vulnerable and this vulnerability has been brutally exposed by one of the oldest and most unpredictable cycles of our star, the solar maximum.
During this period the sun releases geomagnetic storms that agitate the Earth's atmosphere, increasing its density and creating more resistance for the objects orbiting the planet, the result, more drag, more friction and an accelerated fall of these small technological giants, the Starlink satellites were designed to descend slowly at the end of their mission until they burn in the atmosphere, a controlled and easy process, but the sun is interfering in this plan.
NASA scientists have observed that during solar storms these satellites re-enter ahead of time, between 2020 and 2024 no less than 523 Starlink satellites re-entered prematurely, this had never happened on such a scale, now we are facing the first great solar cycle in the era of mega constellations and the scenario is increasingly unpredictable, Starlink has already reached isolated regions of Africa, jungles of South America and scientific bases in Antarctica.
The promise is bold, instant and accessible global internet, but this ultra-sensitive system depends on a stable network and the sun is putting this in doubt, Elon Musk has already warned of degradations in the service after one of the most intense storms of last year in 2022, a single solar event destroyed 40 satellites at once and with thousands of new launches planned the world is beginning to understand that the sky also has its whims and there is no technology that is completely safe.
The most curious and worrying thing is that these satellites, upon re-entering in an uncontrolled manner, can leave debris that survives the heat of the atmosphere. This was not expected and a farm in Canada found an identified piece of a Starlink satellite. This raises a still unanswered question: How many fragments are falling without anyone noticing? saturated and unpredictable?
Thank you for visiting my blog. If you like posts about
#science,
#planet,
#politics,
#rights #crypto,
#traveling and discovering secrets and beauties of the
#universe, feel free to Follow me as these are the topics I write about the most. Have a wonderful day and stay on this great platform :) :)
! The truth will set us free and science is the one that is closest to the truth!
Hello friends of the community, if you want to hunt monsters and earn Steem, try the new game
HARRY-RAID you just have to enter the game, press PLAY, and show your cards, to hurt monsters.
