SpaceX deliberately brought 260 of its own Starlink satellites down between December 2025 and May 2026. No malfunction forced it. According to the company’s semi-annual FCC filing, 176 of them were first-generation units and the rest came from Gen 2.
Another 349 have been decommissioned and are waiting for the same fate. The constellation now tops 10,000 satellites, and the company handles it like a rotating library, with older stock retired as newer units arrive.
Built to expire
Each Starlink satellite carries roughly a five-year expiration date. At the end, onboard fuel lowers the spacecraft into a thinner layer of atmosphere, and friction does the rest. SpaceX says every unit disintegrates fully and leaves no space junk.
Catching them on the way down is not realistic. Gen 1 satellites weigh 573 to 650 pounds, and Gen 2 units reach up to 2,756 pounds.
The pace of retirements swings from one period to the next. The prior six-month window saw 472 deorbits, nearly double the latest figure.
Growth continues
The retirements sit beside an expanding program. The FCC approved 7,500 additional Gen 2 satellites in January, and SpaceX plans up to 42,000 satellites in total.
What researchers want to know
SpaceX argues that full disintegration means zero debris, and regulators have largely accepted that view. Researchers who study megaconstellation re-entries want more work done on the cumulative effect on the atmosphere. Metal particulates and aluminum oxides released at this scale are chemistry nobody has settled, they say.
The FCC has also floated a proposal to exempt space-based operations from NEPA environmental review altogether, on the argument that they are extraterritorial. It has not been approved.
