Current Events > Starlink satellites had to make 25,000 collision-avoidance maneuvers in 6 months

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Staggering growth in Starlink collision-avoidance maneuvers in the past six months is sparking concerns over the long-term sustainability of satellite operations as thousands of new spacecraft are poised to launch into orbit in the coming years.
SpaceX's Starlink broadband satellites were forced to swerve more than 25,000 times between Dec. 1, 2022, and May 31, 2023 to avoid potentially dangerous approaches to other spacecraft and orbital debris, according to a report filed by SpaceX with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on June 30.

The first-generation Starlink constellation is, however, just the beginning. The FCC has partially approved plans for the second-generation Starlink constellation, which could consist of up to 30,000 satellites. And other players all over the world, including Amazon with its Project Kuiper and China with Guowang, are scrambling to secure orbital slots with their respective regulators.

Unless regulators cap the number of satellites in orbit, collisions will soon become a regular part of the space business. Such collisions would lead to rapid growth in the amount of space debris fragments that are completely out of control, which would lead to more and more collisions. The end point of this process might be the Kessler Syndrome, a scenario predicted in the late 1970s by former NASA physicist Donald Kessler. Depicted in the 2013 Oscar-winning movie "Gravity," the Kessler Syndrome is an unstoppable cascade of collisions that might render parts of the orbital environment completely unusable.

Fortunately he mostly fucked himself over so

Is there any context to that number? Is that considered a lot?

well in the short term yes, but it's not like all the stuff up there just disappears as soon as anyone else wants to go into space

I Didn't know satellites had such collision avoidance tech. Pretty cool.

Yeah I made that argument like a year ago when everyone was riding his dick around the time of those launches.

at the same time, starlink is undeniably very useful. the internet is a key part of life for many many people nowadays and I know lots of people (a handful even in person, some are my relatives) who would essentially not have access to it otherwise.

it's not like he's just throwing garbage into orbit, which is what makes this whole thing such a pain because there will be reasonable people on both ends of the tradeoff scale

I Didn't know satellites had such collision avoidance tech. Pretty cool.

well in the short term yes, but it's not like all the stuff up there just disappears as soon as anyone else wants to go into space