Elon Musk's SpaceX Deorbits 260 Starlink Satellites in Six Months, With Hundreds More Set to Burn Up

Elon Musk ‘s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ: SPCX ) guided 260 Starlink satellites to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere between Dec. 1, 2025, and May 31, 2026, according to a semiannual compliance report filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). SpaceX Retires Satellites As Starlink Fleet Grows The filing said 176 satellites belonged to the first-generation Starlink constellation, while the rest came from the Gen2 fleet. Another 349 satellites were decommissioned in the same period and are expected to be disposed of in the coming months. Starlink operates more than 10,000 satellites as SpaceX expands the network and pushes Starlink Mobile, a direct-to-phone service. The satellites are designed to last about five years, letting SpaceX swap aging spacecraft for newer models as fuel runs low. At the end of life, a Starlink satellite uses remaining fuel to lo...