SpaceX vaporised 260 Starlink satellites in 6 months

SpaceX disclosed in a semi-annual filing to the Federal Communications Commission that it deliberately disposed of 260 Starlink satellites between December 2025 and May 2026 by steering them into Earth's atmosphere, where friction burns them up completely.

Of those, 176 belonged to the first-generation Starlink constellation, with the remainder from the newer Gen2 fleet. Another 349 satellites were decommissioned during the same window and are queued for disposal in the coming months.

The current number of satellites in the Starlink constellation is more than 10,000 despite the development of Starlink Mobile for direct satellite internet for mobile devices by SpaceX. The satellite is built to work for about five years because SpaceX deliberately designed it so that its lifespan allows switching the satellites' hardware once the fuel ends.

Once the fuel ends, the satellite will use it in order to make a controlled landing into the Earth's atmosphere, where intense friction will destroy the entire spacecraft. SpaceX disposes of several satellites in such a manner almost every day; a year ago, it destroyed 472 satellites during December 2024-May 2025.

It is impossible to recycle the satellites after deorbiting them because first-generation satellites have the mass of 260-295 kg, whereas the Gen2 satellites are 800-1,250 kg heavy, and their retrieval is both technically impossible and economically unfeasible for SpaceX.

Researchers have pushed for more study into how repeated atmospheric burn-ups affect the upper atmosphere, but satellites have long been excluded from federal environmental review, reportedly out of concern that added regulation could slow down the broader space industry.

The FCC has formally proposed to remove space activities from National Environmental Policy Act review, citing that the impacts do not fall within US jurisdiction. This hasn’t been officially adopted just yet.

This hasn’t stopped SpaceX from further expanding. The company is eyeing a fleet of 42,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, having received authorisation for Gen2, which now has authorisation for 15,000 satellites following approval of 7,500 new satellites in January.

The company is moving towards establishing orbital data centres, launching the A1 satellite with a 120 kilowatt compute payload powered by an 11 million square foot Gigasat production factory currently under development.