"As if to underscore the need to avoid the Kessler Syndrome, a scenario in which cascading debris can make some orbits difficult to use, a Starlink satellite vented propellant and released debris following an onboard "anomaly" late last week. The incident, described by observers as "likely caused by an internal energetic source" rather than a collision, resulted in a loss of communication."
"The satellite, Starlink 35956, was launched on November 23, 2025, as part of the Starlink Group 11-30-13 mission, according to Jonathan McDowell's satellite list. Its altitude was 418 km when communication was lost and is now tumbling, although still intact. In a post on X, Starlink stated that the satellite "will reenter the Earth's atmosphere and fully demise within weeks.""
"It is not clear what caused the "energetic" event. Starlink wrote that "our engineers are rapidly working to root cause and mitigate the source of the anomaly and are already in the process of deploying software to our vehicles that increases protections against this type of event." Former Space Shuttle astronaut and International Space Station (ISS) crew member Ed Lu noted that "hundreds" of debris objects associated with the incident were being tracked, and had already spread out to 6,000 km over the orbital track"
A Starlink satellite experienced an onboard energetic anomaly that caused a propellant vent and the release of a small number of trackable low-relative-velocity objects. Communication with Starlink 35956 was lost while it was at 418 km altitude; the vehicle is tumbling but remains intact and is expected to reenter and fully demise within weeks. Engineers are deploying software protections to mitigate the anomaly's source while investigating the cause. Observers and tracking firms reported hundreds of debris objects spreading along the orbital track up to 6,000 km within days. The satellite's trajectory places it below the ISS and poses no risk to the station.
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