SpaceX Starlink satellites now forced to perform evasive maneuvers almost weekly due to critical overload of low Earth orbit (LEO). According to the latest semi-annual report, which the company filed with the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the intensity of "space maneuvering" has increased to an unprecedented scale, raising serious concerns among aerospace security experts.
Maneuver statistics:
Over 355 000 evasions per year: In the period from June 2025 year to May 2026 year, the Starlink satellites performed a total of more than 355 thousands of emergency maneuvers. This is more than three times the rate 2024 year.
207 152 maneuvers for the last 6 months: Only for the period from December 2025 year to May 2026 of the year recorded more than 207 thousands of rate adjustments (against 148,6 thousand in the previous six months).
Almost 40 maneuvers per satellite: On average, each working device of the group performs more than 40 deviations per year — that is, the orbit is adjusted almost every week.
Magnification of the megaconstellation: More than have already been deployed in orbit 10 700 active Starlink satellites, which is over 60% of all active space vehicles of mankind.
Stricter internal standards: The autonomous AI system is enabled to launch a maneuver at a very strict limit — when the probability of a collision is 3 on 10 millions (it is in 100 times stricter than the generally accepted industry standard 1 to 10 000).
Space debris and other operators: Companions have to warm up not only with each other, and with fragments of old rockets, defunct devices and new competitive constellations.
Independent analysts warn, that such a trend cannot continue forever. The main risks include:
The Kessler effect: If at least one maneuver does not work due to a technical failure, chain reaction of collisions (Kessler syndrome) can turn the orbit into a no-fly zone.
CRASH metric: New research by scientists shows, what if the ground operators completely lose control over the control of the machines, the first large-scale collision in LEO (may occur in less than 72 years) due to the extreme density of objects.
Running out of fuel: Constant use of ion engines for evasions burns up reserves of working fluid faster (krypton/argon), which shortens the service life of satellites. To stabilize the situation, SpaceX has already announced the launch of the free Stargaze platform for the exchange of navigation data between all operators in the world in real time, and also plans to gradually lower thousands of its satellites into lower orbits for faster natural combustion in case of failures.
Source: https://www.space.com