SpaceX told the FCC in a semi-annual report that it disposed of 260 Starlink satellites between December 2025 and May 2026, deliberately destroying them by sending them into the atmosphere. Of those, 176 belonged to the first-generation constellation and the rest to the second. Another 349 satellites were decommissioned in the same six months and will be disposed of in the coming months.
Think of it like a fleet of rental cars with a fixed retirement date. Each Starlink satellite is built for a life of about 5 years, a setup that makes swapping in newer versions easy. When the fuel runs low, the satellite uses what remains to carry out a controlled de-orbit, lowering its altitude until it drops into the atmosphere. Friction there incinerates it, according to the report.
Why not bring them back
Retrieval is out of the question, the company says. First-generation units weigh roughly 573 to 650 pounds (260 to 295 kg), and second-generation units 1,764 to 2,756 pounds (800 to 1,250 kg). Recovering them is technically impractical and financially unviable, SpaceX says, which is why it burns them.
The scale is large. The constellation has more than 10,000 satellites, and Starlink reportedly disposes of several each day. More than 472 were removed between December 2024 and May 2025.
Questions about the atmosphere
The method leaves no falling debris, since the spacecraft disintegrates entirely. What it does to the atmosphere is less clear, and researchers have urged further study and regulation of the environmental impact of satellites.
Regulation could come through the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA), but the FCC has long left satellites out of environmental reviews, reportedly over worry that rules might slow the space race. The commission is now formally proposing “that space-based operations be excluded from NEPA because they are ‘extraterritorial activities’ with effects located entirely outside of the jurisdiction of the United States.” That proposal has not been approved.
More satellites to come
SpaceX has a multi-phase goal of deploying up to 42,000 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit. The FCC approved 7,500 additional Gen2 satellites in January. The company has also revealed plans for an A1 satellite orbital data center with a 120 kW compute payload, and it is building an 11-million-square-foot Gigasat manufacturing facility for them. Starlink Mobile, which would provide satellite internet directly to phones, is also planned.
