Elon Musk warns of "degraded service", says Starlink satellites under "a lot of pressure"

San Franciso [US], May 11 : Elon Musk, the owner of the satellite arm of SpaceX, Starlink, issued stern warnings on Saturday, stating that the Starlink satellites are under "a lot of pressure" due to the powerful geomagnetic storm hitting Earth right now.

The Space Weather Prediction Centre (SWPC) highlighted that the conditions reached level 5 on the 5-point scale of geomagnetic activity on Friday evening.

The SWPC added that its satellites observed an "extreme" eventthe first such storm to reach that level since October 2003, reported Fox News.

"Major geomagnetic solar storm happening right now. Biggest in a long time. Starlink satellites are under a lot of pressure, but holding up so far," Elon Musk said in a post shared on X.

https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1789173902289338518

Earlier in the day, Starlink warned on its website that it was experiencing "degraded service", though it didn't give further details.

The company has about 6,000 satellites in low-earth orbit that communicate with ground transceivers, delivering high-speed internet to customers, reported Fox News.

The inter-satellite laser links pass data between one another in space at the speed of light, allowing the network to offer internet coverage around the world. Starlink owns around 60 per cent of the roughly 7,500 satellites orbiting Earth and is a dominant player in satellite internet.

Moreover, if satellites get impacted, they could disrupt navigation and communication services on Earth.

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) highlighted that a G5 geomagnetic storm can cause "widespread voltage control problems" and that some grid systems may experience complete collapse or blackouts.

Moreover, electrical lines found in people's homes are not understood to be at risk, Fox News reported.

The agency stated that a geomagnetic storm is a major disturbance of Earth's magnetosphere and occurs when there is an exchange of energy from the solar wind into the space environment surrounding Earth.

It typically involves powerful solar flares known as Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) being emitted from the sun.

Reportedly, at least seven have been observed since Wednesday, according to Fox News.

The storms result from variations in the solar wind that produce major changes in the currents, plasma and fields in Earth's magnetosphere.

The NOAA said that the storm is likely to persist over the weekend, posing risks to navigation systems, power grids, and satellite navigation, among other services.

The last time Earth experienced a Level 5 geomagnetic event, there were power outages in Sweden and damaged transformers in South Africa, Fox News reported.

However, the storm caused the skies across the US to light up in a spectacular, colourful glow at levels not seen in years or decades as massive solar flares slammed into Earth on Friday.

Northern Light displays, typically relegated to states along the Canadian border during a typical geomagnetic storm, reached as far as the Gulf Coast, with pink, green and purple skies reported in Florida, Texas, as well as Alabama.

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