The team of researchers, headed by scientists of the Institute of Ionosphere of the NTU " This was reported on the HPI website.

The results of scientific work were published in one of the most influential editions of the world about the Earth and its membranes - the Journal of Geophysical Research by Geophysical Research Letters (USA).

So, in February 2022, SpaceX specialists and the entire space industry were shocked by the loss of 38 Starlink satellites at once. The satellites were in an intermediate low orbit (~ 200 km) and were to be gradually raised several hundred kilometers higher, but instead lost control, left orbits and burned in the atmosphere. SpaceX losses amounted to tens of millions of dollars.

" The most massive loss of spacecraft in history occurred. Huge financial losses and, most importantly, the need to prevent a repetition of such a disaster prompted to look for an answer to the main question: what happened? It is difficult to recall another such case when most experts in the field of space physics postpone all their affairs and focus on the same problem. But this problem is really worth it, ”says dozens of studies, the scientist of the Kharkov Polytechnic Dmitry Kotov, who explained the Starlink catastrophe by the influence of magnetic storms, which took place at the same time. However, Kharkov scientists suggested that the cause of the disaster in something else.

Using the observations of the ionosphere obtained, including, using the ionospheric observatory and mathematical modeling of the near -Earth space, scientists made two discoveries.

" It was noticeably thicker than the forecasts of the international model, which experts use to calculate the inhibition of satellites in the atmosphere. That is, it may be that Starlink would leave orbits without the influence of the storm. And the second discovery is that such situations, when the atmosphere is very poorly predicted, occurs quite often. Therefore, while the atmosphere model is not improved, the repetition of such disasters is quite likely, ”says Dmitry Kotov.

According to him, now they have to study the atmosphere in calm conditions, and it can be unpredictable.

Recall that scientists have shown a new nuclear generator to obtain electricity on the moon. Mission on the Moon requires solving the problem of constant power supply of spacecraft operating on the Earth satellite.