The largest geomagnetic storm in more than 20 years left a very unusual natural spectacle between May 10 and 12, overlapping with the Northern Lights

Latest solar superstorm blinded the systems that prevent satellites from crashing in space

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2024-07-27 06:00:04

The largest geomagnetic storm in more than 20 years left a very unusual natural spectacle between May 10 and 12, overlapping with the Northern Lights in a handful of European countries. This storm caused an artificial phenomenon that had never happened before. For the first time — according to a preliminary study by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) — the arrival of an intense gust of solar wind in low Earth orbit (LEO) triggered the migration of half of all active satellites. And, as the Sun is in its most active phase, it’s possible that storms like that one will be repeated in 2024 and 2025.

The authors of the study warn that, during the days of the storm and the subsequent period, a number of unforeseen movements disabled the safety systems designed to prevent collisions in LEO. In that area of space which surrounds our planet — up to a height of 621 miles — there are both the two space stations (where Western astronauts and Chinese taikonauts live), as well as a multitude of satellites that deal with scientific observation, navigation and telecommunications. Among them are the more than 6,200 Starlink satellites belonging to Elon Musk’s SpaceX company, intended to provide global high-speed internet coverage.

The rapid proliferation of these types of devices is the great change in LEO since the previous solar superstorm, which occurred in October 2003, when there were barely 850 active satellites. Today, there are more than 10,000. Their mass launch began in 2019. Since then, they’ve been changing how the night sky appears to the naked eye. Astronomers have also warned that they interfere with highly-relevant research, such as the detection of dangerous asteroids heading towards Earth.