From July to September 2023, 212 Starlink satellites from SpaceX have been burned up in space.
“The recent surge in the number of Starlink satellites burned up has resulted in a loss of approximately $100 million for SpaceX,” reported Cybernews.
Starlink satellites launched into low Earth orbit. (Photo: Shutterstock).
Founded by billionaire Elon Musk in 2002, SpaceX has developed and operated Starlink, a constellation of internet satellites.
SpaceX began launching Starlink satellites in 2019. Since then, over 5,000 satellites have been placed into low Earth orbit. Currently, around 4,500 of these satellites are operational.
Data compiled by Satellitemap.space indicates that the number of Starlink satellites burned up in space has been steadily increasing. Notably, over the past two months (from July to September 2023), this phenomenon has resulted in the loss of 212 Starlink satellites for Musk’s company.
It remains unclear whether SpaceX’s satellites have strayed from Earth’s orbit, suffered malfunctions, or been burned up due to solar storms. Cybernews has contacted SpaceX for a comment but has yet to receive a response from the company.
Starlink satellites are designed to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere at the end of their lifecycle, which is approximately 5 years.
Additionally, these satellites can be particularly vulnerable to solar storms, especially during the peak activity period in the summer.
In February 2022, SpaceX reported that it lost 40 new satellites shortly after launch due to a solar electromagnetic storm.
