2024-07-20 07:52:44
Washington: Elon Musk’s space company SpaceX has suffered a major setback. 20 Starlink satellites launched from SpaceX rockets last week have fallen from space to Earth. All these satellites burned and were destroyed after coming into contact with the Earth’s atmosphere. Now experts are currently investigating what happened, and the rockets responsible will remain on the ground until this investigation is over. This is being described as a major setback for SpaceX. SpaceX is Elon Musk’s space company, which carries out government and private space missions.
The rocket was launched on July 11
On July 11, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 10:35 p.m. ET, a day later than originally planned. The launch initially went as expected, and the rocket’s first stage successfully separated from the satellite-laden second stage. However, the second stage failed to complete its second burn due to a liquid oxygen leak, leaving it stranded in a low orbit around Earth. It is currently unclear whether the launch was delayed due to the leak.
Trouble in the second stage stranded the satellites
The rocket’s second stage was still able to release its payload, SpaceX representatives wrote in a statement on July 11. However, the satellites became stuck in an elliptical orbit around our planet, with a minimum altitude of 84 miles (135 kilometers) — about half the altitude at which they normally operate. At this altitude, atmospheric resistance slowed the satellites, and they began falling back to Earth, losing about 3 miles (5 km) per complete orbit.
20 satellites burned up in Earth’s atmosphere
The company regained control of most of the satellites and ordered them to burn at their maximum thrust in a final attempt to gain altitude, known as “Warp 9,” reports SpaceNews. But it was not enough to save the satellites. Subsequent observations by Harvard University astronomer Jonathan McDowell confirmed that all 20 satellites burned up after coming into contact with the atmosphere on July 12, reports Spaceweather.com.