Starlink satellites are currently re-entering at a rate of about 1 a day ¹, accounting for about 40% of upper atmosphere pollution ¹. As of August 1, 2025, there are 8,094 Starlink satellites in orbit, of which 8,075 are working, with a total of 42,000 planned ².
Apparently, the next decade looks like 100,000 extra satellites ¹ in low Earth orbit.
What about satellite re-entry?
Starlink satellites are currently re-entering at a rate of about 1 a day ¹, accounting for about 40% of upper atmosphere pollution ¹. As of August 1, 2025, there are 8,094 Starlink satellites in orbit, of which 8,075 are working, with a total of 42,000 planned ².
Apparently, the next decade looks like 100,000 extra satellites ¹ in low Earth orbit.
¹ https://www.space.com/spacex-starlink-reentry-pollution-damage-earth-atmosphere
² https://www.space.com/spacex-starlink-satellites.html
https://research.noaa.gov/noaa-scientists-link-exotic-metal-particles-in-the-upper-atmosphere-to-rockets-satellites/ back when NOAA was a thing they were looking into this and it wasn’t great
Yeah our future fucked