CosmicDancePro -- Measuring LEO satellite's orbital decay and network connectivity implications during solar storms

Fuente: arXiv
Salvato in:
Dettagli Bibliografici
Autori principali: Basak, Suvam, Pal, Amitangshu, Bhattacherjee, Debopam
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
Soggetti:
Accesso online:
Tags: Aggiungi Tag
Nessun Tag, puoi essere il primo ad aggiungerne!!
_version_ 1866914505144926208
author Basak, Suvam
Pal, Amitangshu
Bhattacherjee, Debopam
author_facet Basak, Suvam
Pal, Amitangshu
Bhattacherjee, Debopam
contents The May 2024 solar superstorm highlighted the vulnerability of rapidly expanding low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite networks to severe space weather events. To systematically evaluate LEO network resilience, we introduce an open-source tool, CosmicDancePro. It enables a comprehensive analysis of the effects of solar storms in the LEO satellite network. It integrates real-world multimodal datasets, including space weather measurements from several satellites, upper-atmospheric density conditions from data-driven and high-fidelity physics-based models, and LEO satellite trajectory and LEO network measurement traces to quantify orbital decay driven by enhanced atmospheric density and network connectivity degradation. We utilize CosmicDancePro to analyze the Starlink constellation's behavior during two recent major solar storms. First, we identify the specific fleet management strategies Starlink adopts during the May 2024 solar superstorm and how they differ from its regular orbit-correction strategy. Second, we identify the mechanisms driving the previously unexplained 'W'-shaped altitude variation pattern across orbital planes of LEO constellations. Finally, our network-layer analysis quantifies the connectivity degradation during these storms, revealing transient disruptions that include repetitive short-lived outages, reconfiguration latency spikes above 500 ms, up to 60% increase in uplink loss, distorted diurnal latency patterns, and a 10+ Mbps drop in end-user data rates during storm peaks.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_22685
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle CosmicDancePro -- Measuring LEO satellite's orbital decay and network connectivity implications during solar storms
Basak, Suvam
Pal, Amitangshu
Bhattacherjee, Debopam
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Networking and Internet Architecture
Performance
The May 2024 solar superstorm highlighted the vulnerability of rapidly expanding low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite networks to severe space weather events. To systematically evaluate LEO network resilience, we introduce an open-source tool, CosmicDancePro. It enables a comprehensive analysis of the effects of solar storms in the LEO satellite network. It integrates real-world multimodal datasets, including space weather measurements from several satellites, upper-atmospheric density conditions from data-driven and high-fidelity physics-based models, and LEO satellite trajectory and LEO network measurement traces to quantify orbital decay driven by enhanced atmospheric density and network connectivity degradation. We utilize CosmicDancePro to analyze the Starlink constellation's behavior during two recent major solar storms. First, we identify the specific fleet management strategies Starlink adopts during the May 2024 solar superstorm and how they differ from its regular orbit-correction strategy. Second, we identify the mechanisms driving the previously unexplained 'W'-shaped altitude variation pattern across orbital planes of LEO constellations. Finally, our network-layer analysis quantifies the connectivity degradation during these storms, revealing transient disruptions that include repetitive short-lived outages, reconfiguration latency spikes above 500 ms, up to 60% increase in uplink loss, distorted diurnal latency patterns, and a 10+ Mbps drop in end-user data rates during storm peaks.
title CosmicDancePro -- Measuring LEO satellite's orbital decay and network connectivity implications during solar storms
topic Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Earth and Planetary Astrophysics
Networking and Internet Architecture
Performance
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.22685