SpaceX says it lost contact with the Starlink satellite due to an “anomaly.” SpaceX isn’t saying exactly what happened, but space-tracking company LEO Labs says it “immediately detected tens of objects” around Starlink 34343 after the incident.
“The latest analysis shows this incident poses no new threat to the @Space_Station, its crew, or the upcoming launch of NASA’s Artemis II mission,” SpaceX says in a message posted on Twitter.
The satellite and fragments are expected to burn up in the atmosphere within a few weeks. SpaceX says it is working to determine the root cause.
The latest accident occurred about 560 km above Earth, an increasingly crowded region known as low Earth orbit, where more than 24,000 objects, including debris and about 10,000 Starlink satellites, are currently being tracked.
In January, SpaceX requested approval from the FCC for “up to one million satellites” to build an orbital data center. “We just submitted a request for FCC licensing for one million AI satellites,” Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s president and chief operating officer, said recently. Time profile. “I’m surprised there wasn’t more news. I certainly thought it would get a lot more news.”
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