\u201cThese events illustrate the need for rapid characterization of anomalous events to enable clarity of the operating environment,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
Starlink provided a few details shortly after the December 2025 incident, saying<\/a> on December 18 that an \u201canomaly led to venting of the propulsion tank, a rapid decay in semi-major axis by about 4 km, and the release of a small number of trackable low relative velocity objects.\u201d Starlink added that the satellite was \u201clargely intact\u201d but \u201ctumbling,\u201d and would reenter the Earth\u2019s atmosphere and \u201cfully demise\u201d within weeks.<\/p>\n In December, Starlink seemed confident that it could prevent future anomalies. \u201cOur engineers are rapidly working to [identify the] root cause and mitigate the source of the anomaly and are already in the process of deploying software to our vehicles that increases protections against this type of event,\u201d Starlink said in the December 18 post.<\/p>\n We asked SpaceX today whether it has determined the cause of the December anomaly or the one on Sunday, and will update this article if we get a response.<\/p>\n Starlink reported near-crash after Chinese launch<\/p>\n Starlink also had a near-crash in December, in a different incident about a week before the \u201ctumbling\u201d satellite. Starlink Senior VP Michael Nicolls wrote on December 12<\/a> that a Chinese company had launched nine satellites without coordinating with other space users. Lack of coordination increases the risk of collisions, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAs far as we know, no coordination or deconfliction with existing satellites operating in space was performed, resulting in a 200 meter close approach between one of the deployed satellites and STARLINK-6079 (56120) at 560 km altitude,\u201d Nicolls wrote at the time, referring to the Chinese launch. \u201cMost of the risk of operating in space comes from the lack of coordination between satellite operators\u2014this needs to change.\u201d<\/p>\n Coordination can only become more important if SpaceX goes through with its stated plan of launching a million satellites to create an orbital data center<\/a>.<\/p>\n