The satellites that SpaceX launched last week were expected to join roughly 2,000 Starlink satellites that it has already launched as the company works to drastically ramp up its global space-based internet business — a first-of-its-kind venture that hopes to allow people in even the most remote areas of the world to gain high-speed internet access. SpaceX has said it will eventually need as many as 42,000 satellites, all working in coordination to blanket the globe in connectivity, in order to deliver high-speed, uninterrupted service. As of January, the service had about 145,000 users across 25 countries. It’s not totally clear how SpaceX evaluated the weather in space ahead of last week’s launch. The company did not respond to a request for comment, and rarely responds to reporters’ inquiries. But rocket launches have been delayed for space weather events before, said Bill Murtagh, the program coordinator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center. And launch officials routinely keep a close eye on space weather before rockets take off. “Different companies have their own criteria” for deciding whether or not a space weather event will impact their launch, Murtagh added. James Spann, the head of space weather within NASA’s division that studies the sun, also said that it’s difficult to predict exactly how such a geomagnetic storm could’ve impacted Starlink. Because the storm wasn’t all the severe, it’s not unreasonable to think it would not have had an impact on the launch. And though the loss of 40 satellites isn’t ideal, Spann emphasized that the data NASA and NOAA will gain from observing how the Starlink satellites reacted the storm will help improve space weather modeling in the future. “That is the silver lining,” he told CNN Business. “We’re going to use the data points to ensure that in the future the chances of success are even better than they already are now.” Still, GPS data from the Starlink satellites “suggests the escalation speed and severity of the storm caused atmospheric drag to increase up to 50% higher than during previous launches,” SpaceX wrote in an update on its website. “The Starlink team commanded the satellites into a safe-mode where they would fly edge-on (like a sheet of paper) to minimize drag—to effectively ‘take cover from the storm,’” according to the company. But early data suggests that the added drag from the storm prevented the satellites from turning off the safe mode and “up to 40 of the satellites will reenter or already have reentered the Earth’s atmosphere,” the SpaceX post reads. The company noted that the failed satellites shouldn’t pose any risk to other satellites during their descent, and they should disintegrate as they slam into the thickest part of Earth’s atmosphere so that they don’t threaten any people or property on the ground. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying approximately 60 Starlink satellites lifts off from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The satellites are part of a constellation designed to provide broadband internet service around the globe. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images