SpaceX recently reported that its Starlink satellites are making a massive number of collision-avoidance maneuvers every day, raising questions about the increased orbital traffic and how companies are avoiding disaster.
In its Semiannual Constellation Status Report, which was filed on July 1 by SpaceX, the company said that, on average, each Starlink satellite has had to fire its thrusters 14 times in the timespan of December 1, 2023, and May 31, 2024.
With 6,200 active Starlink satellites orbiting the Earth, that accounts to roughly 50,000 collision-avoidance maneuvers in that span.
Space.com initially reported on the avoidance maneuver frequency and noted that the fact it’s happening so much raises real questions about traffic.
The site talked to Hugh Lewis, an astronautics professor at the University of Southampton in the U.K., who said the number of avoidance maneuvers, which has doubled compared to the same timespan a year prior, was mostly due to decreased maneuvering thresholds:
“Starlink satellites would have made approximately 25,000 maneuvers in the period from December 1, 2023, through May 31, 2024, if the threshold remained the same. This is about the same as in the previous two semi-annual reports, despite the increasing number of satellites in the constellation.”
The number of maneuvering increases has continued to double every six months. Space.com writes:
“During the first four years after the first Starlink launch, the number of evasive maneuvers kept doubling every six months, reaching 25,299 in the half-year leading up to May 31, 2023. Between May and December 2023, the number of maneuvers remained the same despite the increase in the number of satellites.”
There could eventually be 42,000 Starlink satellites in the finished megaconstellation that SpaceX hopes to build, providing high-speed internet in all locations.
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