Doc Searls wrote: > Unfortunately, the satellites deployed on Thursday were significantly > impacted by a geomagnetic storm on Friday. These storms cause the > atmosphere to warm and atmospheric density at our low deployment > altitudes to increase. In fact, onboard GPS suggests the escalation > speed and severity of the storm caused atmospheric drag to increase up > to 50 percent higher than during previous launches. The Starlink team > commanded the satellites into a safe-mode where they would fly edge-on > (like a sheet of paper) to minimize drag—to effectively “take cover > from the storm”—and continued to work closely with the Space Force’s > 18th Space Control Squadron and LeoLabs to provide updates on the > satellites based on ground radars. I wonder if the GPS data will be interesting/helpful to geomagnetic scientists.