(Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
UPDATE: SpaceX now expects to lose all 20 satellites.
Original Story:
On Thursday night, SpaceX sent up another batch of Starlink satellites into space. But a malfunction with the launch raises the risk of the satellites falling back to Earth.
Although the Falcon 9 rocket successfully took off, the “second stage engine did not complete its second burn. As a result, the Starlink satellites were deployed into a lower than intended orbit," SpaceX says.
The Falcon 9 rocket carried 20 Starlink satellites, including 13 “direct to cell” satellites meant to power the company’s Starlink service for mobile phones. SpaceX is now trying to use the satellites’ onboard ion thrusters to propel them into the correct orbit.
So far, the company has made contact with five of the satellites. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted: “We’re updating satellite software to run the ion thrusters at their equivalent of warp 9,” a reference to the Star Trek spaceships' top speeds. “Unlike a Star Trek episode, this will probably not work, but it’s worth a shot,” Musk added. “The satellite thrusters need to raise orbit faster than atmospheric drag pulls them down or they burn up.”
The affected Starlink satellites appear to be circling the Earth in elliptical orbits, says astronomer Jonathan McDowell. Some are traveling 322 kilometers (200 miles) away from the planet, only to later close in at 115km, where they can experience more atmospheric drag.
McDowell says the Starlink satellites will need to clear 200 kilometers to maintain a sustainable orbit. Otherwise, they will plunge back to Earth and burn up in the atmosphere. In the meantime, the US Federal Aviation Administration says it will investigate the incident to prevent a repeat.
“The incident involved the failure of the upper stage rocket while it was in space. No public injuries or public property damage have been reported,” the agency added.
The FAA also indicated that an investigation is required to permit the Falcon 9 rockets to return to flight. Hence, the malfunction risks temporarily delaying future Starlink launches in the interim.