All articles tagged with #low earth orbit
SpaceX has informed NASA it will retire the Crew Dragon spacecraft after 2030, focusing instead on Starship for its own payloads. This leaves NASA reliant on Boeing’s Starliner for human access to low-Earth orbit, raising concerns about cost and market viability. While SpaceX’s move is economically rational for the company, it threatens the broader commercial space economy NASA has spent two decades trying to build.
The defunct U.S. spy satellite USA 32, also known as Farrah III, fragmented in low Earth orbit on September 13, 2026. Launched in 1988 to intercept Soviet signals, the satellite broke apart at an altitude of 775 kilometers. The cause remains unknown, and the resulting debris poses a potential risk to other spacecraft in a crowded orbital region.
NASA has confirmed it will purchase two additional Starliner flights and provide $359 million to Boeing to fix technical issues and certify the Vulcan rocket. This move secures Boeing as the primary provider of US astronaut transportation to low Earth orbit after SpaceX’s Crew Dragon is expected to retire by 2030. The agency cited the high cost of developing new competitors and the existing investment in Starliner as reasons for continuing the partnership, despite Boeing’s history of delays and technical failures.
University of Stuttgart researchers propose an Atmosphere-Breathing Electric Propulsion (ABEP) system that uses ambient air as fuel for a RF helicon plasma thruster to sustain Very Low Earth Orbit satellites without frequent refueling. The team tested three air-intake designs, with a specular intake achieving ~94% particle capture, and an MRI-inspired birdcage antenna delivering power efficiently. In vacuum tests at 50–60W RF power, the thruster showed reliability; models suggest operation between 190–250 km with under 1.6 kW, and potential Mars-atmosphere use. Challenges include atomic oxygen corrosion and atmospheric variability, and the concept is not yet mission-ready.
Russia’s second batch of 16 Rassvet satellites failed to reach the planned 550 km orbit, with most staying at 300–400 km or decaying and at least two reportedly on a path to reentry, according to ISW. The setback undermines Moscow’s effort to field a Starlink-style network for Ukraine and highlights Russia’s limited launch capacity and the need for hundreds of satellites to achieve around-the-clock coverage; Ukrainian strikes on launch infrastructure could further delay progress, though even a partial constellation could still offer limited communications windows for Russian forces.
SpaceX’s Starlink network pushed past 11,000 satellites on 19 August 2026, roughly two-thirds of all active spacecraft. Counts depend on definitions (in orbit vs. operational vs. launched) and cataloging methods, but the milestone marks a major concentration of space assets in low Earth orbit and signals ongoing launches to refresh and expand the network amid increasing traffic and regulatory considerations.
Look Up’s June 2026 space index counted 15,711 active satellites, with 10,365 of them belonging to SpaceX’s Starlink (about 66%), signaling an eightfold rise since 2019. The piece emphasizes that ‘active’ counts are snapshot-based and vary by catalog, noting more than 33,000 objects are tracked overall. The rise reflects a shift to industrial-scale, concentrated low-Earth-orbit usage, giving Starlink outsized influence on launch demand and orbital norms, while automation (ESA’s CREAM) seeks to streamline collision avoidance as fleets grow.
Xona Space Systems aims to deploy a 258-satellite Pulsar constellation in low-Earth orbit to deliver GPS-like PNT with signals up to 100 times stronger than traditional GNSS, enabling centimeter-level positioning and robust timing even indoors or in jammed areas. Six production satellites are planned for launch in Oct 2026 with commercial service starting in 2027, building on Pulsar-0’s 2025 flight and live jamming tests. The system is designed to work with existing L1/L5 receivers, and Xona is rolling out a Pulsar Verified program to onboard hardware partners, while competitors like TrustPoint pursue similar LEO-PNT efforts.
The FCC has approved Reflect Orbital to test Earendil-1, a satellite designed to reflect sunlight back to Earth for solar energy and broad lighting, with plans for a 50,000-satellite fleet by 2035. The initiative raises safety and ethical concerns including health and circadian disruptions, interference with telescopes and pilots, and significant environmental costs from launches and debris, all amid a crowded near-Earth space with SpaceX’s Starlink megaconstellations. The piece frames this as an innovation challenge requiring careful assessment of risks vs. benefits and potentially stronger governance to manage orbital resources and avoid harm to astronomy, aviation, and the atmosphere.
NASA released a draft RFP outlining requirements and funding for privately operated space stations in low-Earth orbit, aiming to fill the post-ISS gap by around 2030. Industry players such as Axiom Space, Vast, Voyager, Blue Origin, and SpaceX welcome the clarity but express concern about the heavy requirements (thousands of items), funding levels (possibly up to $1.5 billion over five years), and how many winners will win contracts. The final RFP could arrive by September with bids next spring, signaling a race to establish a commercial space station market with NASA as a key customer.
Amazon says its Leo (formerly Project Kuiper) constellation has surpassed 390 satellites after 29 new spacecraft, moving toward commercial service later this year. The project aims to deliver high-speed, low-latency internet with up to about 7,700 LEO satellites, a major challenge to SpaceX’s Starlink. Launches involve ULA, Arianespace, Blue Origin, and SpaceX, with a shift from Atlas V to Vulcan to enable larger satellite batches. Despite supply chain delays and a Blue Origin test-vehicle explosion, Amazon has built ready-to-fly spacecraft and an integration center to speed deployments, and initial service will roll out in limited geographies while AWS integration could open enterprise use. Expansion is planned to span dozens of countries as the network scales.
The Wolf Amendment of 2011 blocked NASA-Chinese cooperation, steering China to build its own space station, Tiangong, while the ISS remains the international hub. With the ISS planned to retire around 2030 and no proven commercial crewed replacement ready, Tiangong could become the only permanently crewed outpost in low Earth orbit—though that outcome depends on whether commercial stations can reach readiness in time and on how NASA shifts to private operators. Tiangong’s ongoing crew rotations and infrastructure contrast with the ISS’s multi-country governance, creating a real strategic reshuffle in who occupies and controls the near-Earth space lab landscape.
Researchers introduce the CRASH Clock to estimate how long low Earth orbit could remain safe if satellites could no longer dodge each other; the margin fell from 164 days in 2018 to 5.5 days in 2025 as megaconstellations expanded, underscoring that LEO is now an infrastructure-like shared space requiring continuous coordination, accurate tracking, and robust data to prevent a rapid cascade of near-misses.
China’s Shenlong reusable spaceplane, on its fourth orbital mission, released an unidentified object in Earth orbit. LeoLabs confirmed the deployment near the spacecraft on June 22, 2026, noting the object did not match any catalog entry. Past Shenlong missions included long-duration orbits and sub-satellite deployments, but China has disclosed little about the program, fueling speculation about potential military, surveillance, or early-warning roles. Observers will monitor the object’s trajectory and any further spaceplane activity as the secrecy around Shenlong continues.
A February 2022 G1 geomagnetic storm briefly thickened Earth's thermosphere, increasing drag at the 210 km deployment altitude and causing 40 of 49 Starlink satellites from a single launch to reenter and burn up within days. The event prompted SpaceX to adjust deployment and attitude strategies, pushed space-weather forecasting to the forefront of risk planning for LEO assets, and led insurers to reassess satellite risk under variable solar activity.