(Credit: SpaceX)
As a precaution, SpaceX plans on deorbiting 100 first-generation Starlink satellites, citing a potential flaw that could one day cause the satellites to completely fail.
As a result, the satellites will descend toward Earth before disintegrating in the planet’s atmosphere. “Starlink satellites are also fully demisable by design, meaning that the risk to those on the ground, in the air, or at sea from a deorbiting satellite is effectively zero as the satellites burn up during reentry,” SpaceX said on Monday.
The deorbiting will have no impact on Starlink customers, SpaceX says. Even though the network is losing 100 satellites, the network overall has more than 5,400 working satellites.
The company made the announcement while highlighting SpaceX’s “commitment to space sustainability.” Over the years, the satellite network's growing size has attracted scrutiny over potential orbital hazards to other space projects, or even dangerous debris falling to Earth.
(Credit: satellitemap.space)However, SpaceX says the Starlink network was designed to prevent itself from becoming a space risk. Each satellite features an “autonomous collision avoidance” system, along with ion thrusters, so that it can maneuver in Earth’s orbit. Atmospheric drag will also cause all Starlink satellites to deorbit and burn up in the atmosphere in five years or less, even if engine maneuverability is lost.
Starlink didn't elaborate on the flaw in these early satellites. It said only that the “Starlink team identified a common issue in this small population of satellites that could increase the probability of failure in the future.”
Although the 100 satellites continue to function, SpaceX decided to deorbit them while it still can, rather than risk losing its ability to do so should a complete failure arise.
“The satellites will follow a safe, circular, and controlled lowering operation that should take approximately six months for most of the vehicles,” the company added. “All satellites will maintain maneuverability and collision avoidance capabilities during the descent.”
SpaceX adds that it’s already deorbited 406 satellites. “Of those, 17 are currently non-maneuverable, passively decaying, but well-tracked to help mitigate collision risk with other active satellites,” the company said. “The other 95% of satellites the Starlink team initiated controlled descent for have already de-orbited.”
SpaceX filings to the FCC has revealed that some of these previously deorbited Starlink satellites were decommissioned due to malfunctions or hardware flaws found in the equipment.