Starlink satellites are dodging objects in orbit thousands of times every month

Starlink satellites are making thousands of avoidance maneuvers as low Earth orbit becomes more crowded, feeding worries that a catastrophic impact is inevitable.

SpaceX’s orbital communication satellites performed maneuvers just over 25,000 times in the six-month period between December 1, 2022, and May 21, 2023, the company told the Federal Communications Commission in a recent filing. The company explained that it uses a threshold for maneuvering that is “an order of magnitude” more stringent than industry standard. SpaceX’s satellites move when the probability of a collision is greater than 1 in 100,000, while NASA and other industry firms use a threshold of 1 in 10,000.

Nevertheless, this is double the number of avoidance maneuvers that Starlink satellites made in the previous reporting period. The number of collision avoidance moves tracks alongside the growth of the Starlink constellation: For this most recent period, SpaceX reported adding 457 satellites to orbit.

 

Read the full story at: