Solar Storms and Their Effect on Man-made Satellites

Abstract

The Sun exists in a cyclical pattern of solar activity. This dynamic nature creates what we refer to as space weather, and a key featured associated with it is a solar storm. These storms create a coupled system joining the Sun, Earth and interplanetary space. Over the past several decades, advancements in technology have allowed for the creation and deployment of multiple satellites into orbit around Earth. These satellites are used for multiple reasons such as communication, navigation, and some even serve as scientific observational equipment for example as telescopes. The Earth’s geomagnetic field encompasses the near-Earth space and provides a protective barrier around the Earth. Satellites in orbit are usually within this region. When intense solar storms occur, they release highly energetic particles into space, and some of these particles penetrate the Earth’s magnetic field becoming trapped within it. The result of such an interaction is a magnetic storm. Magnetic storms vary in intensity and duration. Intense magnetic storms are capable of affecting ground-based equipment, but pose a significant danger to satellites in orbit. During the Starlink event in February 2022, multiple satellites from the company SpaceX were damaged and destroyed. This project is aimed at analyzing the solar storm that caused this event, to identify the changes it caused to the Earth’s atmosphere, the features of this solar storm such as the time it took to reach the Earth, and its Disturbance Storm Time (DST) index.