According to Space, astronomers from the non-profit organization Sociedad de Astronomia del Caribe captured on February 7 in the sky over Puerto Rico the destruction in the atmosphere of one or two Starlink satellites that SpaceX launched on February 3. Currently, other craft continue to fall and break apart in other parts of the globe, leaving randomly visible bright trails between 53 degrees north latitude and 53 degrees south latitude.

Dutch astronomer Marco Langbroek confirmed to Space that they were indeed Starlink satellites. The orbital plane of their launch passed over Puerto Rico, and the direction of the fall of the satellites on the video coincides with their direction some time after the launch. The Starlink satellites were in inclined orbits of 53.2 degrees. The expert expects numerous similar re-entries of other lost Starlink satellites into the atmosphere in the near future.

Destruction of debris from one or two Starlink satellites in the atmosphere

The researcher of the organization, who observed the fall of debris, said that he recorded the destruction of two objects with a difference of one minute. According to him, it was not like a falling meteor or other unusual and rare night phenomena in the sky.

On February 8, 2022, SpaceX reported that it had lost 40 of the 49 recently launched Starlink satellites. They did not enter a working orbit and began entering the atmosphere due to a solar flare with a coronal ejection towards the Earth and subsequent atmospheric disturbances and a geomagnetic storm. Deorbiting satellites pose no threat, they are designed to burn up on re-entry without creating space debris or falling debris to Earth.

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