SpaceX plans to reduce the orbit of thousands of Starlink satellites to reduce the risk of collisions. The company’s vice president of engineering says the satellites, which are in orbit at an altitude of about 342 miles, will be brought down to an altitude of 298 miles.
According to IsnaMichael Nicolls, Starlink’s vice president of engineering, announced that SpaceX plans to de-orbit approximately 4,400 satellites as a safety measure.
In a post on the social network X (formerly Twitter), he wrote that the company is embarking on a significant reconfiguration of its satellite constellation, in which all satellites orbiting at an altitude of about 550 kilometers (342 miles) will be reduced to about 480 kilometers (298 miles).
According to Engjet, this action is done with the aim of reducing the risk of collision, placing the satellites in an area with less turbulence and allowing them to exit the orbit faster in the event of an accident.
Decreasing the altitude of satellites will result in denser Starlink orbits and increase space safety in several ways, Nichols wrote.
He also pointed to the upcoming solar minimum (a period in the 11-year cycle of the sun when its activity is less) as one of the reasons for this action. The next solar minimum is expected to occur in the early 2030s.
The announcement comes weeks after Starlink announced that one of its satellites suffered an anomaly that caused some space debris to crash.
A few days ago, Nichols posted about the risk of collisions with a batch of satellites that he said were launched from China, apparently without any effort to coordinate with existing satellite operators, and said that bringing down the Starlink satellites would further improve the safety of the complex, especially given risks such as maneuvers and uncoordinated launches by other satellite operators that are difficult to control.
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