Abstract
Geomagnetic or Solar storms are often associated with disruptions in satellite communications, yet their impact on real-world performance remains under-explored even as satellite broadband usage grows exponentially due to Starlink and others. This is particularly critical now, as we are currently near the peak of a so-called solar cycle, which is associated with increased solar storm activity. Using data from a combination of active and passive measurements, we conduct a comprehensive study of the network effects all the 15 strong, severe or extreme solar storms that occurred in the past 1.5 years (May 2024 – Oct 2025). We bring together three different datasets: First, we use LEOScope, a public global LEO testbed to schedule controlled and fine-grained measurements at seven locations globally during solar storms. The results reveal a severe degradation in performance during such events, manifesting as a 20% decrease in throughput, a 10% increase in latency, and a doubling of the packet loss rate. Second, we use data from M-Lab (Google) speedtests conducted by satellite network users, to enhance global coverage. We obtain over 4 million records, which allows us to do a comparative analysis by studying variation in performance degradation across different latitudes in the same longitude range (over the North and South American continents) and effects across similar (40°–55°) latitudes during periods of high geomagnetic disturbance. Finally, we supplement this with data from Cloudflare AIM, which, in addition to common network speed metrics, also provide an estimation of how this affects user experience for common applications such as gaming, streaming and VoIP. These findings provide new insights into how space weather affects LEO, MEO, and GEO satellite Networks.