Free Republic

Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites are falling back to Earth, with up to four burning up in the atmosphere each day, according to space trackers.Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told EarthSky that he has recorded “an average of between one to two Starlink satellites deorbiting each day in 2025.” That number, he said, could climb to around five per day as SpaceX continues to expand its global network. . . . . . .There are currently about 20,000 objects being tracked in low-Earth orbit, including 12,000 working satellites, 8,500 of which belong to Starlink. . ....

SpaceX carried out back-to-back launches of Falcon 9 rockets carrying Starlink satellites into orbit early Saturday, just hours after U.S. officials lifted a temporary ban on the rocket fleet. The company first launched the Starlink 8-10 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 3:43 a.m. EDT, and quickly followed that just an hour later with another Falcon 9 launch of Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Together, the flights delivered 42 Starlink satellites, including 26 with Direct to Cell capabilities, to low-Earth orbit,