SpaceX has lost contact with one of its broadband satellites, which is now falling toward Earth due to an unspecified and seemingly mysterious anomaly.
The company revealed that a Starlink satellite experienced an anomaly on Wednesday that led to a complete loss of communication. The satellite suddenly dropped around 2.5 miles in altitude (4 kilometers) and created a small field of debris, according to SpaceX.
“The satellite is largely intact, tumbling, and will reenter the Earth’s atmosphere and fully demise within weeks,” SpaceX wrote on X. It’s not clear what caused the satellite to tumble, but the loss of altitude and small bits of debris suggest it, or at least a part of it, may have exploded in orbit.
LeoLabs, a space technology company that tracks orbital debris, detected tens of objects within the vicinity of the satellite following the anomaly. The company wrote that the incident was likely caused by “an internal energetic source rather than a collision with space debris or another object.”
As the number of orbital objects increases, it also becomes harder to keep track of them. Astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, who monitors objects in orbit, suggests that the Starlink satellite may not have dropped from its altitude and that the data point was wrong. Follow-up observations of the satellite in question are needed to figure out exactly what may or may not have happened to the Starlink.
Unscheduled demise
There are currently more than 9,000 active Starlinks in orbit. SpaceX is routinely launching batches of Starlink with plans to build a giant constellation of up to 42,000 satellites in low Earth orbit. These satellites are designed to stay in orbit for around five to seven years, with one to two Starlinks falling back to Earth every day.
The recent anomaly, however, was not part of the satellite’s natural demise. “As the world’s largest satellite constellation operator, we are deeply committed to space safety.” SpaceX wrote. “Our engineers are rapidly working to root cause and mitigate the source of the anomaly and are already in the process of deploying software to our vehicles that increases protections against this type of event.”
The incident comes a week after a Starlink satellite had a close call with a Chinese satellite, narrowly avoiding a collision. As more satellites fill Earth orbit, these types of incidents will likely occur more often. Starlink satellites will typically conduct 300 maneuvers a day to avoid collision with other objects in space, Space.com reported last year.
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