SpaceX crosses 10,000 Starlink satellites launched

The record-setting launch was accomplished using a Falcon 9 rocket, marking the 132nd Falcon 9 launch of 2025. This cadence ties the company’s previous annual launch record, with more than two full months remaining in the year, underscoring the immense operational efficiency and relentless pace of SpaceX’s deployment schedule.

While the cumulative launch tally has passed 10,000, only about 8,608 of those satellites are currently considered operational, according to independent tracking calculations by astronomer Jonathan McDowell.

The initial Starlink prototypes were launched in February 2018, ahead of the constellation’s commercial service offering in 2021. Starlink satellites are designed with a limited operational lifespan of roughly five years, after which they are intentionally de-orbited to passively burn up harmlessly in the Earth’s atmosphere. This controlled decay process is meant to manage space debris.

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Despite the current scale, the Starlink constellation is far from complete. SpaceX holds regulatory approval to launch up to 12,000 satellites, with ambitious long-term plans to eventually field more than 30,000 total units. This mega-constellation is designed to deliver fast, low-latency internet access across the globe.

However, the sheer size of the Starlink project has spurred competition and raised significant concerns about the overcrowding of low Earth orbit. Global competitors, including Amazon’s Project Kuiper and rival efforts in Europe and China, are all developing their own vast satellite broadband constellations. The convergence of these mega-constellation projects necessitates ongoing dialogue about orbital traffic management and the potential threat posed by a crowded LEO environment.