The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has confirmed that the most severe geomagnetic storm in the last 20 years is occurring. Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites have been rendered out of service due to the storm.
Starlink, the satellite branch of Elon Musk’s SpaceX company, announced today that they are experiencing “service disruption” due to the Earth’s most severe geomagnetic storm in the last two decades. Elon Musk had previously stated that Starlink satellites were under significant pressure but had held up until now.
Starlink Satellites Out of Service Starlink’s satellite internet network constitutes about 60% of the approximately 10,000 satellites orbiting the Earth. SpaceX continues to launch hundreds of new satellites into orbit each month. However, according to the announcement, Starlink is facing a service disruption. The top of the official Starlink website carries the following warning: “There is currently a service disruption on Starlink. Our team is investigating the issue.”
It is believed that this issue stems from the ongoing geomagnetic storm affecting the Earth. Musk had mentioned earlier that Starlink satellites were under significant pressure due to the geomagnetic storm.
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced that the Earth is experiencing the largest geomagnetic storm since 2003. The current geomagnetic storm, classified as G5, the most extreme category, will continue throughout the weekend. During this period, risks and disruptions may occur for navigation systems, power grids, and satellite navigation, among other services.
Additionally, the influence of charged particles from the Sun is causing the Northern Lights to be visible across a wide geographic area. Last night, even the northern coasts of Turkey could see these lights. Under normal circumstances, the Northern Lights do not descend to such low latitudes, but the intensity of the storm makes it possible.
The ongoing geomagnetic storm does not pose a health issue for people living on Earth. However, NOAA has also issued a warning for a solar radiation storm for people flying at high altitudes in aircraft. This means that harmful radiation for humans could be present in the upper atmosphere.
