All Starlink users are amazed: being able to connect to the internet in the most remote corners of the planet, even without access to an electrical grid or cell tower, is like a dream come true that would have been unthinkable 20 years ago. Starlink has revolutionized global connectivity, but it has an invisible Achilles heel. The company’s high-speed internet technology is a marvel, but it is not immune to the powerful solar storms that periodically hit our planet.
During a solar storm—no one ever said that space weather was always sunny and calm—Starlink’s internet service continues to function, but experiences a prolonged slowdown in connection speed. These extended periods of 3 to 4 days usually affect Internet connections until the storm subsides. If you depend on Starlink for your Internet use, you may be interested in learning why this happens.
Solar Storms
Solar storms are nothing more than eruptions or—excuse our French—“burps” that our Sun belches. These flares are loaded with plasma and magnetic fields that the Sun throws into space. When this plasma cloud hits the Earth’s magnetic field, it triggers a geomagnetic storm. This can create beautiful weather phenomena such as the Northern Lights, but it also causes harmful physical effects on space technology.
For example, it causes atmospheric warming; the energy released by the storm heats—and dramatically expands—the Earth’s upper atmosphere, commonly known as the thermosphere. This atmosphere swells and reaches the altitudes where low-Earth orbit satellites, such as those from the Starlink company, orbit. As the air density in this region increases, there is a dramatic increase in drag on the satellites, causing them to lose speed and altitude and begin a process of falling toward Earth.
To prevent its satellites from falling and disintegrating in the atmosphere, Starlink has a defense mechanism in place. Each of its satellites is equipped with electric ion thrusters that allow it to maneuver. When it detects a loss of altitude, the Starlink system activates the thrusters to temporarily raise the satellites’ orbit. This self-defense mechanism is crucial, since during the February 2022 storm, Starlink lost 40 newly-launched satellites due to the plasma cloud that hit the thermosphere.
Although Starlink now manages to prevent satellites from being destroyed every time there is a solar storm (which would be a high operating cost for the company in terms of infrastructure), it also causes them to lose the fast Internet connection they provide to their customers.
The side effect: slow, sluggish internet
Starling satellites are spared, but a 2024 study has revealed how this affects service quality. As satellites move away from Earth, this produces a cascade effect in the Starlink constellation. To avoid collisions and maintain the required safe space, other neighboring satellites are also forced to maneuver and adjust their own orbits.
The result of these constant corrections and dynamic movements is that the communication and data routing path is impaired. In general, the Internet connection slows down, as the user experiences a sustained increase in Round-Trip Time. Ultimately, the higher the altitude of the satellites, the slower and less responsive the Internet connection. Although download speeds do not plummet, latency does skyrocket. This profoundly affects activities that require a quick response, such as video calls or online video games.
Worst of all, solar storms usually last three or four days, so users just have to put up with it until the storm subsides.
What can Starlink users do?
The bad news is that there is nothing we can do about solar storms. Restarting your router or repositioning your Starlink antenna will not stop problems with satellites miles above the Earth. Users can only grin and bear it and plan around these periods. For example, you should make video calls using audio only, or postpone a few days of Fortnite gaming with friends.
The good news is that solar storms are predictable well in advance. There are advanced models developed by NASA that offer rapid global predictions. These tools—such as DAGGER (Deep Learning Geomagnetic Perturbation)—can provide an alert of the arrival and intensity of geomagnetic disturbance up to 30 minutes to an hour in advance.