As Elon Musk pushes to expand Starlink across the world, over 11,000 SpaceX satellites that run the network face a growing collision problem in Earth’s orbit

Starlink satellites are facing a growing collision risk in Earth’s orbit. As of 2026, Elon Musk’s SpaceX operates more than 11,000 active Starlink satellites. This makes up a large share of the growing population of spacecraft orbiting Earth. The growing number of satellites and other trackable objects has made collision avoidance challenging for operators, especially as more companies and countries plan to deploy large satellite constellations.
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To show the scale of the problem, Starlink satellites performed more than 355,000 collision avoidance manoeuvres between May 2025 and May 2026.