Why Did 38 Satellites Fall Out of the Sky?

In 2022, SpaceX thought they'd have a routine launch of their latest batch of Starlink satellites. But of the 49 they sent to orbit, 38 ended up falling out of the sky! What went wrong? Predicting space weather and exactly how it affects the Earth turns out to be a bit complicated.

Correction:
0:20 This is actually not a photo of Starlink! This photo is most likely a long exposure of an airplane crossing the night sky.

Hosted by: Savannah Geary (they/them)
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#SciShow #science #education #learning #complexly #starlink #satellite
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Sources:
Geomagnetic Storms | Maine Emergency Management Agency.
Thermosphere modeling capabilities assessment: geomagnetic storms

Image Sources:

[SciShow]

Thanks to everyone who watched this video closely enough to notice that the photo at 0:20 is not of Starlink! The two lines of lights and the little red dots make that photo most likely a long exposure photo of an airplane crossing the night sky!

[SamuQu]

I love the "Not to scale" note on the animation that shows electrons as big spheres attaching themselves to the satellite

[CritterKeeper]

@SciShow I had to share this with you…."When scientists discovered a genus of really small frogs in Madagascar in 2019, they named it Mini. Not content with that, they went on to give the three species in this genus the scientific names Mini mum, Mini ature, and Mini scule." From the TV Tropes page on punny names. :-)

[mr.boomguy]

It always irritates me when companies think that being honest about mistakes is the same as being disgraceful. Be honest and transparent, so we can fix the issues instead of sweeping them under the rug.

[deisisase]

This is the same phenomenon that caused Skylab to re-enter prematurely in the late 70s. The space shuttle was supposed to go there initially.

[mpersan]

Savannah’s presentation style is really good! They kept my interest the whole time despite trying to clean my desk in the background.

[Medytacjusz]

It's always annoying to hear that it's "not in company's interests" (profit) to share data about the universe that they have, hindering our collective knowledge and understanding.

[Sal-T]

At 0:17, your "Long exposure of a Starlink Satellite crossing the night sky" is obviously a long exposure of a plane... The flashing red light with accompanying flashing light just to it's left (obscured by the left steady on light) is a dead giveaway. Plus the distance changing between the two lines indicates that it's either coming closer or moving away from the photographer.

[bruce-le-smith]

wow great episode thank you! very interesting to learn that satellites can build up electrons in a storm, makes me think of galvanic corrosion on boats, where it looks like nothing is happening but damage can still occur. who woulda thought!?

[robinhahnsopran]

Savannah: "...A chance of satte-LIGHT rain."
Me, alone in my empty apartment: **spits out tea**

[BrandEver]

I could be wrong, but isn't the photo at about 1:10 of a rack of satellites on the delivery vehicle, not just one satellite?

[kurtoogle]

Great job, Savannah! Really interesting stuff!

[parmesanzero]

And there’s why trusting private industry on this stuff is a bad idea. Whereas a more public entity will over-engineer for safety and a wide margin of error, a for-profit company will cut everything to the bone for the sake of profit.

[Intabih]

4:17 I'm glad electrons are not that large.

[JAGFG]

I would love to see a spectrometer put on to the space weather satellite constellation, so we can see how much helium and other isotopes that are being generated by gamma rays from the sun.

[TheScratcherStudios]

ye ye ye, that is all neat and all but where can I get that shirt?

[gcnewd]

Awesome information...you are good. Thank you

[blackshard]

Savannah: "Now if that sounds like a mighty fine deal..."
Me: "A mighty fine deal?"
Savannah: "A mighty fine deal."

[justinwheeler]

When I think of Starlink, I see Daniel Jackson after receiving ancient knowledge sitting in Antarctica "protecting" Earth with hundreds of satellites.

[wombat.]

THANK YOU. I thought our atmosphere could change shape / density. And that effected satellites. But had no proof, and could not work out how to ask the search engines the right questions.