Earlier this month, SpaceX’s Starlink announced that 40 of its 49 recently launched satellites were spiraling back to Earth, a day after they left the planet. The satellites’ Icarian descent was the result of a geomagnetic storm, which occurs when solar wind disrupts Earth’s magnetic field.

Why it matters: Geomagnetic storms can upend the paths of satellites in space, sending them adrift or dragging them low enough so they burn up—as was the case for Starlink—but they can also disrupt radio signals and create errors in navigation systems.

This could have ramifications for Amazon’s Project Kuiper, OneWeb, and SpaceX, along with government space programs, which have ratcheted up their satellite-launching ambitions. The storm may have cost SpaceX an estimated $100 million, factoring in the cost of the launch as well.

• SpaceX said in January that it has already sent over 2,000 satellites into orbit since it began test launches in 2018, while a bevy of companies—including Amazon, Astra, and Boeing—filed with the FCC in November 2021 to launch nearly 38,000 broadband satellites in the US alone.
• As recently as last week, the EU entered the fray, seeking to build a satellite internet network it hopes can rival Amazon and SpaceX’s.

FWIW…SpaceX had been warned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the impending storm, but went ahead with the launch anyway.

Astronomy lesson

The sun’s magnetic field goes through a solar cycle approximately every 11 years, depending on the frequency of sunspots on its surface. Each cycle has a minimum and maximum of activity, and this cycle will hit its zenith in July 2025, meaning the frequency and intensity of geomagnetic storms will be at their highest.

Dallas Kasaboski, a consultant with space industry research firm Northern Sky Research, told Emerging Tech Brew that, during solar maximums, space experts are most worried about the slim possibility of an event similar to the Carrington Incident of 1859—the largest geomagnetic storm ever recorded.

• Back then, the storm was so intense that auroras could be seen across the night sky, and telegraphs worldwide failed—and some even sparked and caught fire.
• In today’s world, a similar event could cripple telecommunications worldwide, he said, shutting down not just infrequently used satellite broadband networks, but also thousands of satellites that specialize in essential functions like navigation, science, and communications.

"But that is a very rare event,” Kasaboski said. “And there are ways to kind of try to mitigate the problems even if it were to come on."

In general, the risk of deorbiting is higher for satellites operating in low-earth orbit (LEO) because the atmosphere is denser, meaning a geomagnetic storm is more likely to affect the particles in that section of the atmosphere than ones in higher orbits. Bad news: Many satellite internet services plan to be in LEO.

“The good news is we can monitor them quite well—we’re constantly monitoring the sun’s solar activity. We’re monitoring the earth and the interaction between the two,” Kasaboski said. “The possibility of a solar flare, coronal mass ejection or something larger, it’s a risk. But it’s a lightning kind of a risk. We know when it’ll happen, we can kind of mitigate some of it. And it’s not going to happen that often.”

Big picture: While solar storms are rarely a huge concern, as more governments and companies continue to deploy satellite constellations—for both internet and other purposes—the potential for a storm to cause catastrophic damage increases.

Click here to read on-site.—JM

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How would you describe your job to someone who doesn’t work in tech?

I help solve problems; I just happen to look at them from a non-tangible view.

What emerging tech are you most optimistic about?

I am most optimistic about 3D and AR/VR. Though the tech has been around, the use cases coming to light out of Covid are simply amazing in how it can supplement or influence consumer behavior.

I would also like to add I am very optimistic about cognitive intelligence and truly using data as an asset. Being able to parse through disaggregated data to analyze trends and make decisions, such as the impact to production of switching a single component, and then carry out that behavior in the ERP systems, will be a game-changer to the value chains.

What’s the best piece of tech-related media you’ve read/watched/listened to?

Start with the WHY.

One thing we can’t guess from your LinkedIn profile?

I’ve played college soccer, the viola, and the fool! I love to travel! And I own my own real estate investment company.

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Stat: Institutional Shareholder Services reportedly told its clients—some of the biggest shareholders on the planet—to vote against Apple CEO Tim Cook’s ~$99 million pay package.

Quote: “The SEC seems to be targeting Mr. Musk and Tesla for unrelenting investigation largely because Mr. Musk remains an outspoken critic of the government.”—Tesla attorney Alex Spiro, in a letter to a US District Judge in Manhattan

Read: Is synthetic biology the next general-purpose technology?

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For FLOPS: This Twitter thread shows how the performance of machine-learning systems has accelerated since the advent of deep learning.

For a (nearly) impossible game: Introducing, PassWordle. Have fun, cryptography nerds.

For a robo-roadblock: Delivery bots form an orderly queue behind an e-scooter that was left blocking a walkway.

Are you considering purchasing an EV to tell all your friends you’re environmentally friendly but are unsure about EV battery afterlife possibilities?

Good news: We’re talking battery recycling with Li-Cycle’s Kunal Phalpher at Emerging Tech Brew’s first event of the year. Register here to join us in just three days on Thursday, February 24 at 12pm ET.*

*Note: This event is brought to you by iShares.

Catch up on the top Emerging Tech Brew stories from the past few editions:

• The hottest new programming language? Biology
• The creator of the viral “neural net guesses memes” Twitter account explains how it works
• Can autonomous, seafloor-scanning robots speed up offshore wind development?