SpaceX said it encountered an anomaly with one of its Starlink satellites, likely caused by a small explosion. “The anomaly caused the propulsion tank to vent to the open air, a rapid decrease in the semi-major axis of approximately 4 km [2.5 miles] and the release of a small number of trackable objects at low relative velocity,” Starlink wrote in an article on
SpaceX said it was working with NASA and the US Space Force to find the remains of the object. “The satellite is largely intact, it is collapsing and will re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere and completely disappear within a few weeks,” the company said. Its trajectory is well below the International Space Station (ISS), so it poses no risk to the laboratory or its crew. Starlink has not yet indicated how many coins it tracks.
The incident occurred just days after a Starlink satellite narrowly avoided a collision with a rival Chinese satellite from CAS Space last week. Starlink vice president Michael Nicholls said the incident was due to a lack of coordination between the two companies. “When satellite operators do not share the emphemerides of their satellites, dangerous connections can occur in space,” he wrote on X.
The Starlink constellation consists of nearly 9,300 active satellites, or about 65% of all spacecraft in orbit, not including defunct units. That number has increased by more than 3,000 this year alone, launching aboard 121 separate SpaceX missions, or about one every three days.
