Work

NORAD tracking of the 2022 February Starlink satellites and the immediate loss of 32 satellites

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: . The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) tracking of the SpaceX Starlink satellite launch on 2022 February 3 is reviewed. Of the 49 Starlink satellites released into orbit, 38 were eventually lost. Thirty-two of the satellites were never tracked by NORAD. Two different physical mechanisms have been proposed published in Space Weather and one in arXiv to explain the satellite losses. It is argued that none of these three papers can explain the immediate loss of 32 of the 49 satellites. We suggest NORAD satellite tracking information for scientists to further investigate possible loss mechanisms.

Source: Nonlinear processes in geophysics

DOI: 10.5194/npg-32-75-2025

Authors: Fernando L. Guarnieri, Bruce T. Tsurutani, Rajkumar Hajra, Ezequiel Echer, Gurbax S. Lakhina

Institutions: University of Science and Technology of China, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais

Language: English

Topic: Space Satellite Systems and Control

Subfield: Aerospace Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,412

Funders: Chinese Academy of Sciences, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico