SpaceX has reported a sharp decline in the number of Starlink satellites de-orbited toward the end of 2025, marking a key milestone in the company’s satellite lifecycle management.
According to SpaceX’s latest semi-annual filing submitted to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the number of Starlink satellites taken out of orbit fell from around 500 earlier in the year to approximately 200 by year-end. The report points to the successful and planned retirement of aging satellites, rather than an operational setback.
A typical Starlink satellite operates for about five years before SpaceX intentionally de-orbits it. Each satellite is designed to fully burn up during atmospheric re-entry, minimising long-term space debris risks. In some cases, SpaceX also retires satellites early due to malfunctions or hardware limitations.
The Starlink network now includes more than 10,000 satellites, making it the largest constellation ever deployed. That scale led to a noticeable increase in satellite retirements in recent years. Astronomer and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell noted that SpaceX de-orbited as many as four to five satellites per day during peak periods in 2024.
The company de-orbited 218 Starlink satellites between June and November, down from the 472 that burned up in the Earth's atmosphere in the previous six months. https://t.co/brLVzG30X5
— PCMag (@PCMag) January 2, 2026Data from the FCC filing show that SpaceX de-orbited 472 satellites between December 2024 and May 2025. That figure dropped significantly to 218 between June and November, reflecting a slowdown as older units reached the end of their planned service cycles.
Read: Tesla Patent Hints at Starlink Internet Integration for Future Vehicles
Most of the recently de-orbited satellites belonged to Starlink’s first-generation constellation, which began serving customers more than five years ago. The remaining retirements involved fewer second-generation satellites.
McDowell said SpaceX has now “largely completed the mass retirement of the older satellites.” While the overall re-entry rate remains higher than in 2023, he noted that it aligns with SpaceX’s broader strategy to manage and modernise its rapidly expanding satellite fleet actively.
