Overview
- SpaceX said Starlink 35956 lost communications at about 418 km on Dec. 17, vented its propulsion tank, dropped roughly 4 km in orbit and shed a small number of trackable pieces.
- LeoLabs reported detecting tens of objects near the spacecraft and assessed the event likely stemmed from an internal energetic source, not an impact.
- The vehicle remains largely intact and tumbling and is expected to fully burn up in Earth’s atmosphere within weeks, according to SpaceX.
- The satellite’s trajectory is below the International Space Station, and SpaceX says there is no risk to the orbiting lab or its crew.
- SpaceX is coordinating with NASA and the U.S. Space Force to monitor the debris field as engineers investigate and deploy software updates across the constellation.