SpaceX proactively deorbits Starlink satellites, which burn up in the atmosphere.

SpaceX recently submitted the semi-annual report for its satellite constellation to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), revealing that it deorbited 260 Starlink satellites over the course of six months. From December 2025 until May 2026, it brought down 176 first-generation Starlink satellites and 84 of its bigger second-generation ones.

While 260 sounds like a lot, it's not unusual for the company to deorbit that many within a six-month period. It wasn't even the largest number of satellites it deorbited within a similar timeframe. In 2024, SpaceX identified a common issue in a small population of version-one satellites that could increase the probability of failure. It deorbited 406 satellites in response to that finding and followed that up with nearly 500 satellites from December 2024 to May 2025.

What happens when Starlink satellites deorbit?

Starlink satellites were designed to burn up when they re-enter our planet's atmosphere. To prevent accidents, however, the company typically deorbits its satellites over open oceans and away from populated islands and locations with heavy air or maritime traffic. After all, one accidental collision could have a huge impact on the satellite broadband industry. To be able to target specific locations for re-entry, SpaceX maintains attitude control down to very low altitudes of around 125 km.

However, SpaceX admitted that its satellites do have components that are likely to survive re-entry without fully disintegrating. Those components typically have high melting temperatures: For the Starlink V2 mini satellites, for instance, the company believes silicon from their solar cells could survive atmospheric burn. The company predicts that only around 5 percent of its satellites' mass could survive re-entry, and that those materials are bound to fall in very small fragments with negligible impact energy. In other words, even if some parts of its satellites don't burn up in the atmosphere, they'll likely fall into the ocean and make but a tiny splash.

How often do Starlink satellites deorbit?

Instead of waiting for its satellites to fail and fall on their own, SpaceX takes a proactive approach. "Controlled, propulsive deorbit is much shorter and safer than a comparable uncontrolled, ballistic deorbit from an equivalent altitude and allows all Starlink satellites to maintain maneuverability and collision avoidance capabilities during the descent," it explained.

There's no set frequency for Starlink deorbits, but they're a pretty common occurrence due to the size of the broadband service's constellation. According to satellite tracking platform Orbital Radar, there are currently more than 9,500 active Starlink satellites out there, providing customers with internet coverage even in remote locations. In the future, SpaceX is bound to have a lot more satellites in orbit, and not just those meant to serve Starlink customers. It recently filed an application with the FCC to launch a million satellites to create an orbital data center for SpaceXAI.

In its Commitment to Space Sustainability document, the company explained that its satellites orbit at altitudes below 600 kilometers and that the atmospheric drag at those altitudes will deorbit a satellite naturally within five years. It's also worth noting that the FCC adopted a rule in 2022 that requires Low Earth Orbit satellite operators to deorbit their satellites within five years of mission completion, in order to reduce the growth of orbital debris.

Earlier this year, Michael Nicolls, the VP for Starlink Engineering at SpaceX, announced that the company is lowering the orbit of all satellites currently flying at around 550 kilometers to 480 kilometers throughout 2026. Why? Well, Nicolls said doing so will improve satellite safety in several ways. The number of space debris and planned satellite constellations is "significantly lower below 500 kilometers," he said, "reducing the aggregate likelihood of collision." Further, it will be faster and quicker to deorbit satellites from the lower altitudes. SpaceX owner Elon Musk said that it will allow Starlink to serve a higher density of customers, as well.

Does that mean Starlink deorbits have zero environmental impact?

Well, that's what scientists are still trying to figure out. The number of satellites in orbit will only continue to grow, as both American and Chinese companies launch them in big batches for their mega-constellations. In the US, there's Amazon, aside from SpaceX, which is also building a constellation for its Leo broadband service.

As Harvard Climate Brief explains, when a satellite's organic materials, like carbon-fiber composites, burn up, they release black carbon particles, or what's simply known as soot. At the moment, their impact on the atmosphere, if any, is still unclear. Scientists have also raised concerns about how the aluminum used in satellite construction could turn into particles of aluminum oxide when it burns up. Those particles could convert ambient chlorine into its highly reactive form.

"Chlorine is one of the key actors in the ozone hole," said John Dykema, an applied physicist at Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. "And so if you add a new surface that converts existing chlorine into reactive and free radical forms, that will also promote ozone loss." It doesn't seem to be a cause for worry just yet, but Dykema said that if aluminum oxide in the atmosphere continues to accumulate due to more frequent satellite deorbits, it could slow our ozone layer's recovery, which started when chlorofluorocarbons were phased out in 1987.