Entrepreneur Elon Musk reported an increased load on Starlink satellites due to a geomagnetic storm on the Sun.
“There is a massive geomagnetic solar storm happening right now – the largest in a long time,” Musk noted on X (formerly Twitter). “The Starlink satellites are under a lot of pressure, but they are holding up so far,” he added.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the US government has issued a warning for the first time since October 2003 for a geomagnetic storm of G5 strength (the first most severe class in the federal government’s classification system) and sunspots that are 17 times the size of the Earth.
The storm could cause interference with power grids, satellites and high-frequency radio communications, according to NOAA. Solar activity involves the release of energy that travels through space and ultimately reaches Earth.
Starlink is a global satellite communications system project. It was developed by SpaceX, founded in 2002 by Musk. The Starlink system is designed to provide Internet access to users around the world by deploying a large number of small devices weighing up to 500 kg in low-Earth orbit.