Still In One Piece: Malfunctioning Starlink Satellite Intact, But Tumbling

A malfunctioning Starlink satellite appears to still be in one piece, despite ejecting debris after suffering a mysterious anomaly last month.

Space imaging provider HEO published a short video clip of Starlink satellite 34343, about two weeks after SpaceX reported losing contact with the craft. Although the imagery is low-resolution, it shows the satellite continuing to orbit with its overall body intact.

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HEO CEO Will Crowe notes that the imagery was captured on Saturday using a Satellogic satellite flying nearby, resulting in 20 frames that make up the short video clip.

The imagery also confirmed the satellite is gradually “tumbling” through space after other satellite trackers noticed it drastically veered off its original orbit, only to gradually descend.

(Credit: Jonathan McDowell)

“This image doesn’t have the resolution to see damage to this structure or whether other subsystems have detached. We’re taking higher-resolution images over the next week to get a sense of how the breakup occurred,” HEO’s CEO added.

Initially, satellite and space debris tracking provider LeoLabs “detected tens of objects” coming off 34343 following the mysterious incident. “We’ve characterized this event as likely caused by an internal energetic source rather than a collision with space debris or another object,” it said.

The incident is similar to Starlink satellite 35956, which also experienced an anomaly in December involving the venting of a propulsion tank and some ejected debris. SpaceX also lost communication with the satellite, but space imagery later confirmed it was intact. Satellite 35956 then returned to Earth and burned up in the atmosphere in January.

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SpaceX didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about 34343. But last month, the company said the malfunctioning Starlink satellite posed no threat to the International Space Station and other space missions in the area. “The SpaceX and Starlink teams are actively working to determine root cause and will rapidly implement any necessary corrective actions,” the company also said at the time.

Overall, satellite failures are relatively rare for Starlink, which currently has over 10,000 satellites in orbit. The company has designed each satellite to maneuver in space and to fully disintegrate upon reentry into the atmosphere. Still, astronomers and space experts have been scrutinizing SpaceX’s plans, which include a proposal to launch a constellation of up to 1 million satellites for orbiting data centers.

There’s also been rare cases where small parts of Starlink satellites have survived re-entry. University of Regina astronomy professor, Samantha Lawler, has also questioned if SpaceX’s constellations need to be so large and constantly refreshed when Starlink satellites can be retired in five years. “As a society — is this really how we want to be using our orbit? We”re just throwing things away, burning them up in the atmosphere, dropping them on the ground. It’s like billionaires dropping their garbage on our head,” she told CBC.