{"id":485997,"date":"2025-10-09T15:42:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T15:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/485997\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T15:42:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T15:42:10","slug":"elon-musks-starlink-satellites-are-falling-to-earth-at-an-alarming-rate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/485997\/","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk\u2019s Starlink satellites are falling to Earth at an alarming rate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your support helps us to tell the story<\/p>\n

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n

Your support makes all the difference.<\/strong>Read more<\/p>\n

Up to four satellites from Elon Musk\u2019s massive Starlink constellation are falling to Earth every day, according to space trackers.<\/p>\n

Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard\u2013Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in the US, recorded<\/a> an average of between one to two Starlink satellites deorbiting each day in 2025.<\/p>\n

That figure is expected to rise to around five per day as SpaceX continues to grow its space internet constellation.<\/p>\n

Videos of Starlink satellites falling to Earth have appeared across social media in recent weeks, causing concern that they could pose a risk to people on the ground.<\/p>\n

There are currently around 20,000 objects being tracked in low-Earth orbit, including 12,000 working satellites \u2013<\/strong> 8,500 of which are Starlink satellites.<\/p>\n

With a lifespan of around five years, Starlink satellites are purposefully designed to burn up entirely in the Earth\u2019s atmosphere before reaching the ground. So while the events may appear alarming as they streak across the sky, they are not dangerous.<\/p>\n

Dr McDowell warned that other objects re-entering could pose a significant threat, as they are not being controlled by their operators. <\/p>\n

\u201cEvery few months there\u2019s a report of a piece of space hardware that\u2019s reentered that ends up on the ground as a significant piece of debris,\u201c he said in a recent conversation<\/a> with space news publication EarthSky. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo several times a year we\u2019re taking these potshots at people on the Earth and fortunately so far missing. So far we\u2019ve been very lucky, but it won\u2019t last.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deorbiting Starlink satellites may not pose a risk to people, but Dr McDowell said they may still prove problematic.<\/p>\n

Scientists are still trying to understand what impact this rate of deorbits might have on the Earth\u2019s atmosphere.<\/p>\n

Pollutants from the burn-ups, such as aluminium-oxide particles, could contribute to warming of the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not clear yet really, even in the age of the mega constellations, [whether] these effects are going to be big enough to be really problematic, but it\u2019s not clear that they won\u2019t,\u201d Dr McDowell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat research is underway right now, and if it comes back that we\u2019re already doing damage to the atmosphere in this way, we\u2019re going to have to rethink some of our disposal strategies.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[70,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-485997","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115344975177162410","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}