SpaceX loses contact with Starlink satellite after mishap

SpaceX’s Starlink said one of its ​satellites experienced an anomaly in space on Wednesday that created a “small ‌number” of debris and cut off communications with the spacecraft at ​418 km in altitude, a rare kinetic accident in orbit for the satellite internet giant.

“The satellite is largely intact, tumbling, and will reenter the earth’s atmosphere and fully demise within weeks,” Starlink said in a post on X.

The company said the satellite, one of nearly 10,000 in space for its broadband internet network, quickly fell four kilometers in altitude, suggesting some ​kind of explosion occurred on board.

It was working with the U.S. ⁠Space Force and NASA to monitor the debris pieces, the number of which SpaceX did not say in its statement.

Space-tracking company LeoLabs said it detected “tens” of what were likely pieces of debris ​from the mishap and that additional ⁠fragments could be detected as it continues to analyse the event.

LeoLabs added the swift drop in altitude likely showed the mishap was caused by an internal problem rather than a collision with another object in space.

Space Force’s ‌space-tracking unit did not immediately return a request for comment on ‌the number of debris pieces, which could pose risks for other active satellites in orbit.

But with the Starlink satellite still ‍somewhat intact after shedding a relatively small field of debris, the event seemed smaller in scale than other orbital mishaps such as the breakup of an Intelsat satellite ‍that created more than 700 pieces, or the breakup of a Chinese rocket body last year.

The number of spacecraft in Earth’s orbit has jumped sharply in recent years as companies and countries race to deploy tens of thousands of satellites for internet constellations and other space-based services such as communications and Earth imagery.

Many space policy officials and industry executives worldwide have advocated for clearer international traffic rules in orbit to better coordinate evasive satellite maneuvers and satellite ⁠deployments among space-faring nations, most prominently the U.S. and China.

Last week, SpaceX’s vice president of Starlink engineering, Michael Nicolls, said on ​X that a spacecraft from a recently launched Chinese mission came within 200 meters ⁠of a Starlink satellite, a dangerously close approach that satellite operators often attempt to avoid.

“As far as we know, no coordination or deconfliction with existing satellites operating in space was performed,” Nicolls said. “Most of the risk of operating in space comes from the lack of coordination between satellite ⁠operators – this needs to change.”