Sighting in Saultain, March 4, 2022

At around 4:50 a.m., a witness saw a long line of lights in the sky. The lights varied in brightness and looked unstable along the length of the line. The whole formation moved steadily and receded, giving the impression that it was climbing. The sighting lasted roughly 90 to 120 seconds.

The witness sent a video through wetransfer on 22 March 2022, but its format was not recognised and it could not be played. GEIPAN asked for it again by email on 8 April 2022 and received no reply. The case therefore had low consistency: a single witness, and no usable photo or video of the phenomenon.

The investigation linked the sighting to a SpaceX launch. The day before, on 3 March 2022 at 14:25 UT (15:25 local time), a Falcon 9 rocket had launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying the 39th batch of 47 Starlink satellites. After deployment, these satellites stay close together and aligned for several hours, which looks like a line of lights. They are regularly visible over France, especially in the fifteen days after launch, until they reach their final orbit. GEIPAN classified the case as A: the witness saw the train of Starlink satellites from that launch.