Starlink was the latest victim of a solar storm, but it may not be the last

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.