For safety in orbit: SpaceX wants to lower Starlink satellites

The satellites of the internet service Starlink are to be significantly lowered over the course of the year and will then no longer race around the Earth at an altitude of 550 km, but only 480 km above the Earth's surface. This was announced by Michael Nicolls, who is responsible for Starlink technology at the US space company SpaceX. At the same time, he assured that the far-reaching measure would be coordinated "closely" with other satellite operators, authorities, and the US military. The move is intended to increase safety in Earth orbit in several respects, Nicolls assures. Only in mid-December did Starlink lose contact with one of its own satellites, and there were indications of an explosion on board at the time.

As Nicolls explains, the lower orbit is intended, among other things, to ensure that Starlink satellites crash faster after the end of their operational life and burn up in the atmosphere. This is due to the slightly higher drag of the somewhat denser outer reaches of the Earth's atmosphere there. Even with less solar activity, the devices would then only orbit the Earth unused for a few months instead of over four years as before. Furthermore, there is significantly less space debris at this altitude, and the number of satellites planned there is "significantly" lower. SpaceX is thus reducing the risk of a collision with potentially catastrophic consequences ("Kessler Syndrome").

More safety, lower latencies

The Starlink chief technology officer also points out that its own satellites are extremely reliable, with only two out of over 9,000 in Earth orbit being "dead." However, only in mid-December did the space company of Elon Musk lose one after a suspected explosion, as the Reuters news agency reported. The satellite reportedly suddenly lost four kilometers in altitude and likely shattered into dozens of pieces. These pose a danger to other satellites; in the worst case, they can trigger a devastating chain reaction. However, the reduction in orbit now announced is too short-term to be a reaction to this. Nevertheless, the move is likely to significantly increase safety.

The fact that SpaceX can change the satellite network in such a fundamental aspect as orbital altitude during operation is a huge advantage. However, there are no statements from other satellite operators yet, so it is unclear what the industry thinks of this. While SpaceX wants to increase safety in orbit and reduce the risk for all satellites, the move is also likely to have positive consequences for Starlink users. The shorter distance between the satellites and the antennas is likely to at least slightly reduce the latency of the internet service. However, the operational life of satellites in the lower orbit may also decrease, which would then require even more frequent launches.

Starlink has been under construction since 2019. More than 9,400 active Starlink satellites now provide high-speed internet connections on all continents. At one point, it was planned that this megaconstellation alone would grow to 30,000 satellites, in addition to others from Amazon or China. Because they are all placed in low Earth orbit – for low latencies – they do not have a particularly long lifespan and must be replaced approximately every five years. To accomplish this, the satellites are slowed down until they crash uncontrollably and burn up. The number of these crashes has long been increasing significantly, the consequences for the Earth's atmosphere are unclear so far.

(mho)