According to a report by Komsomolskaya Pravda website on June 8, as cited by Reference News, Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) has seen its Starlink satellites falling successively. A research team led by physicist Danny Oliveira from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center studied this "satellite rain."
The research team compared the satellite fall times with various natural phenomena and found a clear correlation between satellite falls and solar activity.
The research report points out: "We clearly found that the current increase in solar activity has a significant impact on Starlink satellites re-entering the atmosphere. This is an excellent period to study satellite orbital drag, as the number of low-Earth orbit satellites has reached the highest level in human history during this solar activity peak."
Starlink Satellites Falling in Large Numbers
According to a report by Komsomolskaya Pravda website on June 8, as cited by Reference News, Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) has seen its Starlink satellites falling successively.
SpaceX first launched Starlink satellites in 2019, and satellites began falling in 2020. However, given the large number of Starlink satellites launched by Musk, the initial number of falls was within a reasonable range. Only two satellites fell in 2020. But in 2021, the number of falls surged to 78. In the following two years, the number of falling satellites remained roughly at this level (99 in 2022, 88 in 2023). However, a strange change occurred last year: 316 satellites burned up in the atmosphere. To date, Starlink has lost a total of 583 satellites. Approximately one in every 15 satellites has fallen. What exactly happened?
The research team compared the satellite fall times with various natural phenomena and found a clear correlation between satellite falls and solar activity.
The research report points out: "We clearly found that the current increase in solar activity has a significant impact on Starlink satellites re-entering the atmosphere. This is an excellent period to study satellite orbital drag, as the number of low-Earth orbit satellites has reached the highest level in human history during this solar activity peak."
The launch of Starlink satellites began in 2019, which was during a solar activity trough. NASA statistics show that last year was the peak of solar activity.
The solar activity cycle is approximately 11 years. When many sunspots appear on the solar surface, strong explosions and solar flares occur. Solar wind erupts outwards through coronal holes, and some of this material flies towards Earth, causing geomagnetic storms. When solar plasma reaches Earth and triggers geomagnetic storms, another effect also occurs—a heating phenomenon in the upper atmosphere. When the atmosphere is heated, it expands, and satellites experience greater aerodynamic drag, causing them to deviate from their orbit and eventually fall.
On February 4, 2022, a geomagnetic storm caused SpaceX to lose 40 newly launched Starlink satellites. According to information released on SpaceX's official website, under the influence of the geomagnetic storm, these satellites experienced a 50% increase in atmospheric drag within approximately one day, preventing them from raising their orbital altitude and ultimately causing them to re-enter and burn up in the atmosphere.
Although this phenomenon is generally understandable, many mysteries remain. For example, the research report notes that 70% of the satellites did not fall during strong geomagnetic storms, but rather during moderate and weak ones. This is likely because weak geomagnetic storms often last longer, slowly "eroding" the orbit and pushing satellites toward an inevitable end.
Starlink to Consist of 42,000 Satellites
Starlink satellites are part of Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX)'s "global satellite broadband" project, which aims to provide satellite broadband to "anywhere" globally, including remote areas. Due to SpaceX's development of the Falcon rocket, which offers relatively low cost and powerful carrying capacity, Starlink satellites can be launched frequently, with dozens of satellites sent into space in a single launch. After reaching space, many Starlink satellites actively perform orbit raising maneuvers. This is because after rocket launch and separation, the orbital altitude is low, so satellites need to autonomously raise their orbit.
Musk stated in an interview that "Starlink" will consist of 42,000 satellites, costing approximately 30 billion U.S. dollars, excluding subsequent maintenance and replacement costs.
In terms of market expansion, as of 2025, Starlink's global user base has exceeded 5 million, with its services widely covering aviation, maritime transport, and internet access in remote areas. In October 2023, "Starlink" launched its direct-to-cell service, planning to gradually implement SMS messaging, voice calls, internet access, and Internet of Things (IOT) functions from 2024 to 2025, continuously expanding its business boundaries and exploring new profit growth points.
Large-scale satellite falls not only increase space debris and threaten the safety of other spacecraft but also require significant investment in repair and replenishment of satellites, affecting service stability. Additionally, numerous similar low-Earth orbit satellite internet projects have emerged globally, leading to increasingly fierce market competition.
SpaceX to Overtake NASA
On June 3, local time, tech billionaire Elon Musk revealed his space exploration company SpaceX's revenue situation for this year. Musk, after resigning from his position in the efficiency department of former U.S. President Trump's administration, is now committing to returning to corporate roles.
Musk posted on the social media platform X that day, stating that SpaceX's revenue this year is expected to reach approximately 15.5 billion U.S. dollars (about 111.4 billion RMB). In 2022, SpaceX's annual revenue was only 4.6 billion U.S. dollars, meaning revenue is projected to more than triple within three years.
Musk stated that the company's commercial space revenue next year is expected to exceed NASA's overall budget by 1.1 billion U.S. dollars, highlighting SpaceX's growing dominance in the commercial space sector. According to official NASA documents, the Trump administration has cut the agency's fiscal year 2026 budget to 18.8 billion U.S. dollars.
At a recent SpaceX event, Musk delivered a speech titled "Making Life Multiplanetary." He also mentioned an astonishing goal in his speech: SpaceX will produce 1,000 Starships annually, averaging three per day! These "fleets" of spacecraft will be housed in SpaceX's mega bays, which Musk revealed could become one of the largest buildings in the world.
In 2024, SpaceX's Falcon rockets launched a record 134 times, making it the world's most active rocket launch operator. Of these, 132 launches were carried out by the main Falcon 9 rocket, with the remaining 2 by the Falcon Heavy rocket. The company plans to break this record this year, with the number of launches expected to reach 170 by year-end—meaning an orbital launch approximately every two days. So far this year, the company has completed 62 commercial launches.
Image Source: Visual China
According to a Xinhua News Agency report on May 28, local time on the morning of May 27, U.S. space exploration company launched 24 Starlink satellites into polar orbit using a Falcon 9 rocket.
It is reported that at 9:57 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time on May 27 (0:57 a.m. Beijing time on May 28), Space Exploration Technologies Corp. launched 24 Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California using a reusable Falcon 9 rocket. Approximately 8 minutes later, the rocket booster successfully landed on the company's autonomous drone ship deployed in the Pacific Ocean. This was the 13th flight for this rocket.
According to Space Exploration Technologies Corp.'s launch documentation, this mission, named "Starlink 17-1," aims to deploy broadband internet satellites into a polar orbit with an inclination of 97 degrees. This will allow Starlink satellites to provide more coverage for high-latitude regions, including parts of Alaska, northern Canada, and other polar areas not previously covered by Starlink satellites.