SpaceX Starlink Fail: 5% Of Satellites 'No Longer In Service'

SpaceX has admitted that three of its satellites that were launched as part of its Starlink constellation project have failed after losing contact with them. These satellites will no longer be used for the project and are expected to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere as they descend.

More than a month following the official launch of Starlink, SpaceX provided an update regarding the conditions of the satellites. The update was made through a report that the company sent to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the government agency that permitted SpaceX’s project.

In the report, the company told the FCC that 45 of its 60 Starlink satellites were successful in reaching their target altitude of 342 miles from Earth’s surface using their propulsion systems. Five satellites are still on their way to their programmed orbital altitude while another five are currently going through tests before joining the others.

SpaceX noted that it will intentionally deorbit two satellites from the project in order to simulate the disposal phase. The remaining three satellites of the 60 in total, however, are no longer in service after SpaceX lost contact with them. According to the company, it was unable to direct the satellites’ onboard propulsion systems to reach their target altitude.

These three satellites, along with the two deorbited ones, are expected to be completely destroyed as they fall back to Earth and enter its atmosphere.

“Due to their design and low orbital position, all five deorbiting satellites will disintegrate once they enter Earth’s atmosphere in in support of SpaceX’s commitment to a clean space environment,” the company stated in the report to the FCC.

With only five out of 60 satellites officially out of service, it seems the initial phase of SpaceX’s Starlink project can be considered a success. However, as pointed out by Forbes, the company’s failure rate could significantly increase once it proceeds with the rest of the project.

As noted by the company, it will eventually deploy about 12,000 satellites for Starlink by 2020. With the company’s current success rate of 95%, this could mean that SpaceX might end up with about 600 non-operational satellites left in orbit once it reaches its goal for the project.