Can solar storms wipe out the satellites in Earth orbit? Study reveals Horrifying truth

tech.hindustantimes.com:

In February 2022, an unprecedented tragedy befell the Elon Musk led SpaceX. It was conducting its routine Starlink satellite launch, which was set for the lower orbit of the Earth. These satellites were to help SpaceX spread the coverage of its satellite-based internet service globally. However, tragically, during the launch event, the space company did not consider that a solar storm was set to hit Earth on the same day. What happened next was a terrifying event which saw 40 of the Starlink satellites get destroyed as they desperately sought to reach a safe orbit and instead they plunged to a fiery death back towards Earth. Notably, it was not a particularly strong solar storm. it was just a G2-class solar storm. Just imagine, what a powerful G5-class solar storm could do to humanity? A study claims that it can potentially destroy most satellites orbiting the Earth, crash the Internet and even the power grids around the world. Know what will happen in such a horrific situation.

The study, by Sangeetha Abdu Jyothi, an Indian scholar and assistant professor at University of California, claims that coronal mass ejections (CME), which are plasma containing powerful magnetic fields around it, are extremely dangerous for the artificial satellites that do numerous crucial tasks for us including GPS connectivity, providing information around climate, oceans, land and air, monitor volcanoes, send television signals, handle mobile phone networks and Internet and are crucial in radio communication.

In the 13 page study titled ‘Solar Superstorms: Planning for an Internet Apocalypse', Jyothi said, “Communication satellites are among the severely affected systems. The damages are not due to direct exposure to highly charged particles