Starlink Swarm Becomes Atmospheric Sensor

Astronomer Tony Phillips published a method turning public Starlink and other satellite tracking data into a daily atmospheric density index. He analyzes drag terms for 1,000 Starlink, 391 Kuiper, 651 OneWeb and 107 Planet Labs satellites, watching sink rates track solar radio flux with a two-day lag. The index ranged from 19.7 meters in August to 127.6 meters during a January geomagnetic storm.