NORAD Tracking of the 2022 February Starlink Satellites and the Immediate Loss of 32 Satellites

Abstract. The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) tracking of the SpaceX Starlink satellite launch on 2022 February 3 is reviewed. Of the 49 Starlink satellites released into orbit, 38 were eventually lost. Thirty-two of the satellites were never tracked by NORAD. Two different physical mechanisms have been proposed published in Space Weather and one in arXiv to explain the satellite losses. It is argued that none of these three papers can explain the immediate loss of 32 of the 49 satellites. We suggest NORAD satellite tracking information for scientists to further investigate possible loss mechanisms.