SpaceX intentionally burned up 260 Starlink satellites in the last six months, with hundreds more set to follow
SMRTR summary
Every five years or so, a Starlink satellite quietly falls back to Earth, burning up completely in the atmosphere. According to new FCC filings, SpaceX deorbited 260 satellites between December 2025 and May 2026, with hundreds more queued for disposal soon.
With over 10,000 satellites currently in orbit and plans to eventually launch 42,000, this turnover is now routine, almost industrial. SpaceX is simultaneously building an 11-million-square-foot manufacturing facility aimed at producing satellites at enormous scale.
But the sheer volume of atmospheric burn-ups is raising eyebrows. Researchers are asking hard questions about what repeated disintegrations might do to the upper atmosphere, and calls for environmental review are growing louder.
The FCC, meanwhile, is considering formally exempting space operations from environmental review altogether, classifying them as "extraterritorial activities." That proposal is still pending, and the debate over who, if anyone, watches over the skies is only just beginning.
SMRTR provides this summary for quick context. The original article belongs to TechSpot.
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