Another batch of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites has been guided out of orbit and burned up in the dense layers of the atmosphere. The company regularly updates this orbital network, so older satellites are retired and new ones take their place. At the same time, scientists’ concerns about the planet’s ozone layer are growing.
Data from the Semiannual Report
SpaceX regularly reports to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission on the state of the Starlink constellation. According to PCMag, the company submitted its latest such document on July 1.
It states that from December 2025 to May 2026, 260 spacecraft completely burned up in the atmosphere. Of these, 176 belonged to the first generation, while the remaining 84 were newer models.
This is slightly more than the 218 satellites that reentered the atmosphere during the previous six-month period, from June to November 2025. At the same time, another 349 spacecraft were removed from active service during the same period and are expected to meet the same fate in the near future.
Regular Renewal
Each Starlink satellite is designed to operate for about five years, after which it is decommissioned. SpaceX continuously replenishes the orbital group with new spacecraft, so retiring older units is a normal part of this cycle. During descent, the structure is mostly destroyed by friction with the air, and the fragments do not pose a threat to people on the surface.
The total number of launched Starlink satellites has long exceeded 10,000, and the scale of the constellation sometimes forces SpaceX to retire four or even five spacecraft per day. The most intensive period remains December 2024 to May 2025, when 472 units left orbit in this way. Judging by the available data, this is the highest six-month figure.
Overall Decommissioning Statistics
The total number of Starlink satellites that have already been deliberately destroyed is tracked by astronomer Jonathan McDowell, who maintains his own orbital statistics separately from SpaceX. According to his data, that number currently stands at 1,344.
The more often satellites burn up in the atmosphere, the greater the concern that gases released during combustion could harm the ozone layer. The authors of one arXiv preprint, whose conclusions have not yet undergone peer review, have called for this issue to be studied in greater detail.
Back in 2024, a research team from the University of Southern California published a paper in the peer-reviewed journal Geophysical Research Letters stating that, if satellite constellations are fully deployed, annual aluminum oxide emissions from burned-up spacecraft could exceed 360 tons, while the particles themselves could remain in the stratosphere for decades and accelerate ozone-layer depletion.
The Question of Environmental Oversight
Some experts are calling on U.S. authorities to conduct a full environmental assessment of the practice of burning up satellites. Instead, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission appears to be moving in the opposite direction and plans to exempt Starlink and other large satellite constellations from such review.
The regulator explains this as an effort to preserve U.S. leadership in the space industry. Meanwhile, the Starlink fleet continues to grow, and with it the scale of annual satellite retirements.
