SpaceX will gradually lower 4,400 Starlink satellites this year to improve space safety.
SpaceX announced it will lower approximately 4,400 Starlink satellites from 550 km to 480 km above Earth throughout 2026 to reduce the risk of collisions in low Earth orbit. The move will also shorten the satellites’ end-of-life decay time by more than 80 percent.
The decision follows a December incident in which one Starlink satellite created minor debris and briefly cut communications with another spacecraft. Michael Nicholls, SpaceX vice-president of engineering, said the adjustment will also mitigate risks from uncoordinated maneuvers and launches by other operators.
Estimates from the European Space Agency indicate over 40,000 objects orbit below 2,000 km, with more than 9,300 owned by SpaceX. Objects over 1 cm in size, over 1.2 million pose potential collision hazards.
Professor Hugh Lewis of the University of Birmingham said SpaceX carried out 144,404 collision avoidance maneuvers between December 2024 and May 2025, a 200 percent increase from the previous period.
Nicholls emphasized the satellite adjustments are part of SpaceX’s ongoing efforts to make orbital operations safer as congestion in low Earth orbit increases.
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NASA announced on Tuesday it has cancelled plans to deploy a space station in lunar orbit and will instead use components from the project to build a $20 billion base on the moon's surface, while also planning to send a nuclear-powered spacecraft to Mars.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched early on Friday, 13 February, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying four astronauts and cosmonauts on an eight-month mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The Crew-12 team includes two Americans, a French astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut.
Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX has acquired his artificial intelligence firm xAI, as the billionaire moves to bring more of his technology businesses under one structure.
A SpaceX capsule carrying a four-member crew home from orbit in an emergency return to earth necessitated by an undisclosed serious medical condition afflicting one of the astronauts splashed down safely early on Thursday (15 January) in the Pacific Ocean off California.
Fears of wider escalation grow despite President Donald Trump saying U.S. strikes on Iran could end within weeks. Meanwhile missile attacks, tanker incidents and rising casualties across Israel, Lebanon and the Gulf heighten risks to regional stability and energy routes.
There are fears of an oil spill after a drone strike hit a Kuwaiti oil tanker near Dubai on Tuesday, while U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran reportedly killed at least two people. A loud explosion was heard in Beirut in southern Lebanon early Wednesday, as oil prices climbed above $100 a barrel.
Russian-flagged tanker carrying approximately 700,000 barrels of crude oil docked at Cuba's Matanzas oil terminal on Tuesday, shipping data confirmed, marking a vital and controversial delivery to an island paralysed by severe energy shortages and a suffocating U.S. blockade.
A Russian military An-26 aircraft has crashed in Crimea, killing all 30 people on board, Russia’s Defence Ministry has confirmed.
Explosions were heard in the Syrian capital Damascus as Israeli air defences intercepted Iranian missiles, Syrian state television reported on Tuesday.
Four astronauts blasted off from Florida on Wednesday on NASA's Artemis II mission, a high-stakes voyage around the moon that marks the United States' boldest step yet toward returning humans to the lunar surface later this decade in a race with China.
NASA is preparing to launch Artemis II with four astronauts on a roughly 10-day mission around the Moon, marking its most ambitious human spaceflight in decades and a key step towards returning astronauts to the lunar surface ahead of China.
NASA is aiming to launch its Artemis 2 mission on Wednesday (1 April), sending astronauts on a 10-day journey around the Moon, officials confirmed. According to the Space Administration, the launch window is due to open at 23:24 GMT, with additional opportunities to 6 April if delays occur.
The four astronauts selected for NASA’s Artemis II mission have arrived in Florida, entering the final phase of preparations for the first crewed journey towards the Moon in more than five decades
NASA announced on Tuesday it has cancelled plans to deploy a space station in lunar orbit and will instead use components from the project to build a $20 billion base on the moon's surface, while also planning to send a nuclear-powered spacecraft to Mars.
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