News Astronomy

Half of all active satellites are now from SpaceX. Here’s why that may be a problem

The number of satellites in low Earth orbit is increasing faster than regulations can keep up

A view of the Earth from space with several white dots, representing Starlink satellites, forming a ring around it.

Low-Earth orbit is crowded with thousands of Starlink satellites, shown as white dots in this visualization. All of them launched in the last four years.

satellitemap.space

By Lisa Grossman

SpaceX’s rapidly growing fleet of Starlink internet satellites now make up half of all active satellites in Earth orbit.

On February 27, the aerospace company launched 21 new satellites to join its broadband internet Starlink fleet.