At the end of 2021, Musk is really a big fire, and the world knows this person, the new richest man in the world. Unexpectedly, it was not long before it entered 2022, and he had a small fire. And this time it was because one of his space companies suddenly had many satellites crash. It is understood that SpaceX, Musk's private space company, has recently entered a period of high-frequency launches. Up to now, 6 Falcon 9 reusable rockets have been used, successfully sending 254 satellites into space. Among them, there is a third batch of 147 "Starlink" satellites. At the same time, they also successfully recovered the first stage of the rocket, and the fairing. It can be said that the success of this period of time also makes them happy light.
It's just that they may be happy and sad, and their happiness has not yet passed. On February 9, spaceX officials suddenly issued a statement. They said the 40 "Starlink" satellites they launched into space suddenly returned to the atmosphere. In other words, all 40 satellites have crashed. According to the current information, these 40 "Starlink" satellites. In fact, it is the batch that was only launched on February 3 this year. At that time, SpaceX used one, which had already carried out 2 manned missions, 5 hands B1061 "Falcon" 9BLOCK5 rockets. From Cape Canaveral, Kennedy Space Center LC39A launch pad from the U.S. At that time, there were 49 Starlink satellites, so after this accident, 9 of the same batch survived. Without this accident, the number of "Starlink" satellites in orbit would have actually reached 1952. It only takes one more launch, then you can break through the "Starlink" satellite, the historical mark of 2,000 in orbit.
However, the accident happened so suddenly, it is estimated that even Musk did not expect that he would receive such bad news one after another. The 49 "Starlink" satellites that were originally launched recently have stopped in the test orbit at a height of 210 kilometers and confirmed that they are in good condition. Just wait for the electric push to be activated, and you can successfully upgrade to the track that will eventually be deployed. Unexpectedly, it was brushed off by an unexpected geomagnetic storm. This geomagnetic storm caused a sudden increase in the density of the atmosphere, so that the flight resistance of the "Starlink" small satellites that had just been launched also increased by 50%. In the end, only the "small wings" could be retracted, so that most of them fell into the atmosphere, and only 9 survived. And even the surviving 9 satellites, their final outcome is not very optimistic.
So in other words, Musk launched 48 "Starlink" satellites with the "Falcon" 9 rocket on February 3, which is equivalent to water drifting. And this also made Musk be blown off by this electromagnetic storm for tens of millions of dollars. It's not known how many first-level boosters to recycle, and fairings to save back. Coupled with the fact that he was already working on the first orbital class launch of the Starship, he was very distressed by the constant delay. The leak of the house coincided with the overnight rain, which was no different.
Fortunately, these "starlink" satellites that have fallen into the atmosphere are not very large. And when it was first designed, it was a zero-risk material and design. So they end up only going to be completely burned out in the atmosphere. One will only enjoy a shower of artificial meteors without worrying about what major damage they will cause to the ground. In addition, the "Starlink" satellite can actually be mass-produced, so the cost is not high. So Musk can still bear the overall loss this time.