SpaceX to lower orbits of some Starlink satellites

WASHINGTON — SpaceX plans to lower the orbits of some of its Starlink satellites, a move the company says is intended to improve space safety following two recent incidents.

In a Jan. 1 social media post, Michael Nicolls, vice president of Starlink engineering at SpaceX, announced a “significant reconfiguration” of the constellation, moving satellites currently operating at an altitude of about 550 kilometers to 480 kilometers.

The change will affect about 4,400 satellites out of nearly 9,400 currently in orbit. The satellites will migrate to the lower orbits over the course of 2026. Nicolls said SpaceX would coordinate the moves with other satellite operators, regulators and U.S. Space Command.

“Lowering the satellites results in condensing Starlink orbits and will increase space safety in several ways,” he wrote. At lower altitudes, spacecraft will take less time to deorbit through atmospheric drag if they are unable to actively deorbit. That issue will become more pronounced as solar activity declines in the next several years toward the minimum of its 11-year cycle, reducing atmospheric density in low Earth orbit.

Nicolls said lowering the satellites would reduce uncontrolled, or ballistic, decay times at solar minimum from more than four years to just a few months.

Another factor is congestion. “Correspondingly, the number of debris objects and planned satellite constellations is significantly lower below 500 km, reducing the aggregate likelihood of collision,” Nicolls wrote.

Lowering the orbit of those satellites may have additional benefits beyond space safety not mentioned in the statement. Lower orbits can reduce latency and improve performance because there is a shorter distance between the satellite and ground terminals.

“These actions will further improve the safety of the constellation, particularly with difficult-to-control risks such as uncoordinated maneuvers and launches by other satellite operators,” Nicolls wrote.

The comment appeared to reference an incident last month in which SpaceX said a satellite launched on a Chinese Kinetica-1 rocket passed within 200 meters of a Starlink satellite without coordination between SpaceX and the launch and satellite operator.

Nicolls said SpaceX currently has two nonoperational satellites in orbit, apparently including one that malfunctioned recently. SpaceX said Dec. 18 that a satellite designated Starlink-35956 suffered an unspecified in-orbit anomaly Dec. 17, causing venting from a propellant tank and “the release of a small number of trackable low-relative-velocity objects.”

SpaceX did not disclose further details, but LeoLabs, a commercial space-tracking company, said the satellite’s behavior suggested an “internal energetic source” rather than a collision with debris or a micrometeoroid. LeoLabs later said it was tracking hundreds of debris objects from the spacecraft, which it expects to decay naturally within weeks.

“The satellite is largely intact, tumbling, and will reenter Earth’s atmosphere and fully demise within weeks,” SpaceX said. The company later released an image of Starlink-35956 taken by Maxar’s WorldView-3 satellite, confirming the spacecraft had not broken apart.

“Our engineers are rapidly working to identify the root cause and mitigate the source of the anomaly and are already deploying software to our vehicles that increases protections against this type of event,” SpaceX said.

Notably, SpaceX has not launched any Starlink satellites since announcing the incident involving the satellite launched in November, although Starlink launches are scheduled to resume as soon as Jan. 4.

U.N. discussion

Perceived risks posed by broadband satellite constellations, particularly Starlink, were discussed at a United Nations Security Council meeting Dec. 29.

The informal session, known as an Arria-formula meeting, was organized by Russia to address what it described as “risks and challenges emanating from uncontrolled use of low Earth orbit satellites.”

The two-and-a-half-hour meeting was largely an opportunity for Russia, China and several other nations to air their grievances about Starlink in particular, citing concerns ranging from space safety to the use of commercial satellite systems for military purposes and by criminal organizations.

“The delegation of Venezuela considers it necessary for the United Nations to recognize that, under current conditions, megaconstellations represent a tangible threat to the security and sovereignty of non-operating states, violating the spirit of Article 1 of the Outer Space Treaty,” said Marglad Bencomo, a Venezuelan official.

China’s representative said that “the unchecked proliferation of commercial satellite constellations by a certain country, in the absence of effective regulation, has given rise to pronounced safety and security challenges,” adding that the size of the Starlink constellation was “heightening the risks of spacecraft collisions and the creation of space debris.”

Representatives of Western countries largely rejected those claims, arguing the discussion diverted attention from the war in Ukraine and that such issues are better addressed in other international forums.

“As to the issues Russia has raised today, the United States emphasizes that commercial satellites, including large satellite constellations, provide critical benefits including disaster preparedness and recovery, search and rescue capabilities, and reliable communications for communities with limited alternative means of internet access,” said Oscar Baez, the U.S. representative at the session.