(NewsNation) — SpaceX will be moving around 4,400 satellites to a lower orbit in 2026, according to an X post from Michael Nicholls, vice president of Starlink engineering.
Nicholls posted the news on X, announcing the company’s plan to change the orbit of the satellites in order to reduce the chances of collision with other satellites or space debris.
Earth’s orbit has become increasingly cluttered with satellites, and Elon Musk’s SpaceX is responsible for a significant portion of the rapid increase in objects in orbit.
One recent paper noted the risks of such a crowded orbit, suggesting that in the event that Earth lost the ability to control satellites as a result of something like a solar flare, scientists would have as little as three days to gain control before catastrophic collisions would begin to occur.
“Lowering the satellites results in condensing Starlink orbits and will increase space safety in several ways. As solar minimum approaches, atmospheric density decreases, which means the ballistic decay time at any given altitude increases — lowering will mean a >80% reduction in ballistic decay time in solar minimum, or 4+ years reduced to a few months,” Nicholls said.
The satellites will be lowered from 342 miles to about 298 miles, putting them in a portion of Earth’s orbit with less space debris and fewer planned satellite constellations.