SpaceX loses contact with one of its Starlink satellites
SpaceX has lost contact with Starlink satellite 34343 after it suffered an unspecified anomaly on March 29 while it was in orbit, the company has announced on X. The event happened while the satellite was approximately 348 miles above our planet. Since that is a relatively low altitude, SpaceX’s analysis showed that the remains of the satellite pose no risk to the International Space Station or the upcoming launch of the Artemis II mission. It also won’t affect the company’s Transporter-16 mission, which launched with small satellites from its clients on March 30. In its statement, SpaceX also said that it will monitor any trackable debris, indicating that the satellite is no longer in one piece. LeoLabs, an American company tracking satellites in Low Earth Orbit, said it detected a “fragment creation event” involving Starlink 34343 on March 29. It also mentioned that this event is similar to another incident that happened on December 17, 2025. SpaceX had lost Starlink satellites to events like geomagnetic storms in the past, but it doesn’t seem like these two recent incidents were caused by external factors. The company has yet to announce what led to the anomalies, but LeoLabs believes that both of them were “likely caused by an internal energetic source rather than a collision with space debris or another object.” At the moment, the Starlink team is still working on determining the root cause of the incidents. SpaceX said that once it has come to a conclusion, the company will “rapidly implement any necessary corrective actions.”On Sunday, March 29, Starlink satellite 34343 experienced an anomaly on-orbit, resulting in loss of communications with the satellite at ~560 km above Earth.Latest analysis shows the event poses no new risk to the @Space_Station, its crew, or to the upcoming launch of NASA’s…— Starlink (@Starlink) March 30, 2026
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/spacex-loses-contact-with-one-of-its-starlink-satellites-115538554.html?src=rss
