Elon Musk's' Starlink 'satellites crash in large numbers

The space exploration technology company first launched the "Starlink" satellite in 2019, and a satellite crashed in 2020. However, given the large number of Starlink satellites launched by Musk, the initial number of crashes was still within a reasonable range. Only two satellites fell in 2020. But in 2021, the number of falls skyrocketed to 78. In the following two years, the number of satellites that fell remained at this level (99 in 2022 and 88 in 2023). But last year, a strange change occurred: 316 satellites burned up in the atmosphere. So far, the 'Starlink' has lost a total of 583 satellites, with approximately one out of every 15 satellites falling.

Why did Musk's Starlink satellites crash one after another? The research team compared the time of satellite landing with various natural phenomena and found a clear correlation between satellite landing and solar activity.

The research report points out that solar activity has a cycle of about 11 years. When many sunspots appear on the surface of the sun, strong explosions and solar flares occur. The solar wind erupts outward through coronal holes, and some of the material will fly towards the direction of the Earth, triggering magnetic storms. Magnetic storms can heat up the Earth's atmosphere, causing it to expand outward and increasing the resistance of satellite flight. Due to its lower orbital altitude, Starlink satellites are more susceptible to the influence of this resistance, resulting in detachment from orbit and falling.

Starlink satellites are deployed in relatively low orbits, typically at an altitude of around 550 kilometers, in order to reduce signal delay and lower launch costs. This design makes the satellite more susceptible to changes in atmospheric resistance, especially during peak solar activity, where an increase in atmospheric resistance significantly shortens the lifespan of the satellite.

Generally speaking, the lifespan of low orbit microsatellites is 5 years. Many Starlink satellites launched in the early stages have reached the end of their lifespan and can no longer provide services. They may also voluntarily leave orbit and crash.

Star Link is a low orbit Internet constellation plan proposed by US Space Exploration Technology Company in 2014, which can further improve the accuracy and anti-jamming capability of the US military navigation and positioning system, and can be used for direct collision interception of intercontinental ballistic missile warheads. It can effectively promote seamless switching between military communication networks and commercial communication networks.

From 2019 to 2024, SpaceX will set up a "star chain" network consisting of about 12000 satellites in space to provide Internet services, of which 1584 will be deployed in low Earth orbit 550 kilometers above the earth, and will start work from 2020. The plan aims to replace traditional communication facilities on the ground with 42000 satellites, providing low-cost, high-speed, and stable satellite broadband services worldwide. The goal is to build a space-based communication system with global coverage, large capacity and low delay, and provide high-speed Internet services worldwide.

On May 22, 2022, the Starlink satellite Internet service of the Space Exploration Technology Company achieved another periodic speed measurement result, which showed that the download speed of the service reached 301 Mbps. On December 22, 2023, the global user base of Starlink exceeded 2.3 million. On March 26, 2025, the Vietnamese government announced that it approved the trial operation of SpaceX satellite chain Internet. On March 2, 2025 at 21:24 Eastern Time, SpaceX launched 21 Starlink satellites using the Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in Florida.

Many similar LEO satellite Internet projects have emerged in the world, and the market competition is becoming increasingly fierce. The continuous falling of the satellite chain will delay the construction progress of the "star chain" satellite constellation and affect the realization of its goal of global Internet service coverage.