Starlink satellites become a daily barometer for Earth's breathing atmosphere
We've Turned Starlink into a Planetary Barometer
Spaceweather.com has turned the Starlink megaconstellation into a planetary barometer. By reading the drag term in public orbital data for 1,000 Starlinks, the site publishes a daily sink rate—how many meters a typical satellite at 480 km would fall in a day. In 2026 the rate ranged from 19.7 to 127.6 m/day, a sixfold swing driven by solar activity. Planet Labs Doves, Amazon Kuiper, and OneWeb provide independent checks.
The swarm itself is the sensor, read from public tracking data.
- jubilanti
Such obnoxious Claudish in this article. I don't know enough verify the analysis and I genuinely don't know if the author does either.