Starlink satellites fall to Earth faster during increased solar activity, study finds

A trio of heliophysicists and satellite trackers at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the Goddard Planetary Heliophysics Institute at the University of Maryland has found evidence showing that Starlink satellites reenter Earth's atmosphere faster during heightened solar activity. For their paper posted on the arXiv preprint server, Denny Oliveira, Eftyhia Zesta and Katherine Garcia-Sage analyzed Starlink satellite data over the years 2020 and 2024, during a rising phase of the solar cycle.