Thousands of satellites had to suddenly manoeuvre during May 2024 solar storm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jacinta Bowler, ABC Science, 24 July 2024
While stargazers around the world were trying to catch a glimpse of the widespread auroras in May, satellites were bearing the brunt of the worst geomagnetic storm in 20 years.
US researchers used open-access US data to analyse how satellites fared over the mid-May storm.
Their study, which has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, found many satellites lost significant altitude and had to quickly manoeuvre back to the correct position.
The researchers suggested a combination of poor forecasting and satellites having to raise themselves back to the correct altitude "en masse" provided an unreasonable risk of satellite collisions.
William Parker, an aeronautical researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and one of the authors of the new paper, believes this risk will only increase over time as satellite constellations like Elon Musk's Starlink launch hundreds of new satellites each month.
"A single collision in orbit … can generate thousands of pieces of orbital debris or space junk that can persist for decades, centuries, or longer," Mr Parker said.
"This debris inevitably leads to more collisions, perpetuating a dangerous cycle."
It's waaaaay more than just she be right mate, not a problem, we can just use software rejections to clear our images Like the Greenhouse effect, the Kessler syndrome risk is well known too... but sigh, no matter the warnings no matter the concern, nothing substantial is being done about it, as more and more investment occurs, there is no backing away now, it seems almost inevitable...Humans, we never reeeally learn sometimes.
Possibly, one should consider also (apart from AP) that so many are now reliant on satellite communication on our daily lives. The recent Cloudflare balls up may manifest in a hardware version, be it physical collision - or warfare deliberate destruction. The global reliance and subsequent absolute disruption to most economies is beyond calculation. Buy shares in copper, before you know it we may be back to telex again.
Last edited by Boozlefoot; 28-07-2024 at 08:15 PM.
Reason: Typo
Thousands of satellites had to suddenly manoeuvre during May 2024 solar storm
Like the Greenhouse effect, the Kessler syndrome risk is well known too... but sigh, no matter the warnings no matter the concern, nothing substantial is being done about it, as more and more investment occurs, there is no backing away now, it seems almost inevitable...Humans, we never reeeally learn sometimes.
