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This page has been superseded by the Starlink Statistics page

Deorbited, Malfunctioning and anomalous Starlinks

[Updated 2021 Apr 7 (at least, and possibly more recently)]
All altitudes in km. SpaceX have acknowledged ( Doc 1 and Doc 2 ) a number of satellites which have lost manuevering capability. However, they do not provide enough information to tell WHICH specific satellites are being referred to. Here I present my own summary of Starlink orbital behaviour that suggests certain satellites have failed. Summary table:

Launch	Sats launched	Deorbited	Reentered after fail	Still in orbit	Not manuevering	Deorbit in process?	Working?
Launch 0 (Tintin)	2	2	0	0	0	0	0
Launch 1 (V0.9)	60	49	2	9	5	0	4
Launches 2-8 (V1.0 1-7)	420	8	3	409	18	1	390
Launches 9-17 (V1.0V 8-16)	533	1	5	527	0	0	527
Launch 18 (V1.0V R1)	10	0	0	10	0	0	10
Launch 19-25 (V1.0V 17-23)	420	0	0	420	0	0	420
Total	1445	60	10	1375	23	1	1351

2021 Mar 31 SpaceX table

At the end of Mar 2021 SpaceX provided a table of failed Starlinks per launch to the FCC, giving the number `non-manueverable above injection altitude' (Non-Mvble), `screened at low altitude' (Screened), and `deorbited early' (DO Early). The launch number ids in the document (DocLNo) are not quite the same as those in other SpaceX info (SpX LNo) and appear not to be in chronological order. Columns headed 'SpX' are data according to SpaceX, 'JCM' indicates my own estimates for comparison. "Not launched" means not launched at the date of the SpaceX table.

This table is preliminary - there's a mismatch because the rideshares with 58 and 57 sats should be V1.0-L8/9/10 not V1.0-L9/10/11. I hope to update it over the coming week.

JCM	JCM	SpX	SpX LNo	SpX	SpX	SpX	SpX	JCM	JCM	JCM
COSPAR	My Launch No	Doc LNo	SpX LNo	NSats	Non-Mvble	Screened	DO Early	Non-Mvble	Screened	DO Early
2019-074	2	1	V1.0-L1	60	4	1	1	4	1	2
2020-001	3	2	V1.0-L2	60	3	1	3	4	0	3
2020-006	4	3	V1.0-L3	60	2	0	2	3	0	3
2020-012	5	4	V1.0-L4	60	1	0	1	2	1	0
2020-019	6	5	V1.0-L5	60	2	0	1	2	2	0
2020-025	7	6	V1.0-L6	60	3	0	1	2	0	0
2020-035	8	7	V1.0-L7	60	1	1	0	0	1	0
2020-038	9	8	V1.0-L8	60	0	1	1	0	0	1
2020-055	10	9	V1.0-L9	58	0	0	0	0	0	0
2020-057	11	10	V1.0-L10	57	0	0	0	0	0	0
2020-062	12	11	V1.0-L11	58	0	0	0	0	0	0
2020-070	13	12	V1.0-L12	60	1	0	1	0	0	1
2020-073	14	13	V1.0-L13	60	1	1	0	0	2	0
2020-074	15	14	V1.0-L14	60	1	2	3	0	2	0
2020-088	16	15	V1.0-L15	60	1	0	2	0	0	0
2021-005	17	16	V1.0-L16	60	0	0	0	0	0	0
2021-017	21	17	V1.0-L17	60	0	0	0	0	0	0
2021-006	18	TSP1	TSP1	10	0	0	0	0	0	0
2021-009	19	18	V1.0-L18	60	0	0	0	0	0	0
2021-012	20	19	V1.0-L19	60	0	0	0	0	0	0
2021-018	22	20	V1.0-L20	60	0	0	0	0	0	0
2021-021	23	21	V1.0-L21	60	0	0	0	0	0	0
2020-024	24	22	V1.0-L22	60	0	0	0	0	0	0
Not launched	25	23	V1.0-L23	60	0	0	0	0	0	0

Satellites from Launch 1 (V0.9 design)

My analysis based on TLEs and SupTLEs:

Satellites in orbit undergoing uncontrolled orbital decay

Failed satellites often are manuevered to different orbits for a while before beginning steady decay. The dates here are when steady decay began.

The "SPX Fail" column indicates whether SpaceX acknowledge the satellite as inactive as reflected on the SpaceTrack.org `satellite' query class. (Yes = SpaceX say it is dead; Yes (NM) = SpaceX say it is not manuevering, but still alive in other ways; No = SpaceX say it is still active despite my data).

Starlink 48 resumed orbit changes in Nov 2020.

Sat ID	SSN	Altitude	Fail Date	SPX Fail	Reentry Date	Orbit	Orbit zoom
Starlink 60	44273	440	2019 May	Yes	2020 Dec 26
Starlink 43	44257	485	2019 Jun	No
Starlink 48	44289	510	2019 Jul	Yes (NM)
Starlink 80	44282	500	2019 Jul	Yes
Starlink 24	44238	530	2019 Dec	Yes
Starlink 64	44275	455	2020 Feb	No
Starlink 61	44249	512	2020 Feb?	Yes
Starlink 26	44240	434	2020 Apr?	Yes (NM)	2021 Apr 10

Satellites actively deorbited:

Two V0.9 satellites were deorbited early in 2020. They appear to have been test satellites evaluating low altitude operations, rather than failures. More V0.9 satellites were actively deorbited in summer 2020.

Sat ID	SSN	Altitude	Fail Date	Deorbit date	Orbit vs time
Starlink 46	44246	-	-	2020 Feb 20
Starlink 67	44278	-	-	2020 May 27
Starlink 22	44236	-	-	2020 Aug 9
Starlink 41	44277	-	-	2020 Aug 9
Starlink 66	44255	-	-	2020 Aug 21
Starlink 28	44242	-	-	2020 Aug 21
Starlink 58	44270	-	-	2020 Aug 23
Starlink 62	44274	-	-	2020 Aug 29
Starlink 33	44247	-	-	2020 Aug 29
Starlink 25	44239	-	-	2020 Sep 1
Starlink 23	44237	-	-	2020 Sep 2
Starlink 51	44272	-	-	2020 Sep 2
Starlink 34	44248	-	-	2020 Sep 2
Starlink 45	44260	-	-	2020 Sep 4
Starlink 44	44261	-	-	2020 Sep 5
Starlink 40	44258	-	-	2020 Sep 5
Starlink 38	44280	-	-	2020 Sep 6
Starlink 56	44283	-	-	2020 Sep 10
Starlink 32	44254	-	-	2020 Sep 12
Starlink 54	44266	-	-	2020 Sep 14
Starlink 36	44250	-	-	2020 Sep 15
Starlink 69	44267	-	-	2020 Sep 16
Starlink 42	44256	-	-	2020 Sep 16
Starlink 78	44290	-	-	2020 Sep 16
Starlink 37	44251	-	-	2020 Sep 16
Starlink 35	44264	-	-	2020 Sep 16
Starlink 50	44285	-	-	2020 Sep 17
Starlink 57	44269	-	-	2020 Sep 17
Starlink 39	44253	-	-	2020 Sep 18
Starlink 21	44245	-	-	2020 Sep 22
Starlink 27	44241	-	-	2020 Sep 26
Starlink 53	44294	-	-	2020 Sep 26
Starlink 73	44284	-	-	2020 Sep 27
Starlink 74	44293	-	-	2020 Sep 29
Starlink 49	44262	-	-	2020 Sep 29
Starlink 31	44235	-	-	2020 Oct 1
Starlink 77	44291	-	-	2020 Oct 2
Starlink 79	44288	-	-	2020 Oct 3
Starlink 81	44292	-	-	2020 Oct 4
Starlink 30	44244	-	-	2020 Oct 13
Starlink 63	44265	-	-	2020 Oct 13
Starlink 52	44259	-	-	2020 Oct 13
Starlink 29	44243	-	-	2020 Oct 13
Starlink 59	44271	-	-	2020 Oct 15
Starlink 72	44263	-	-	2020 Oct 15
Starlink 65	44276	-	-	2020 Oct 21
Starlink 55	44268	-	-	2021 Mar 9
Starlink 75	44286	-	-	2021 Mar 28

• SpaceX May 15 report to FCC: (all altitudes in km)

  
  

  Bad Sat No.	Altitude	Tentative ID
  1	527	Starlink 24?
  2	455	Starlink 64?
  3	529	Starlink 48?
  4	400	?
  5	552	?
  6	490	Starlink 80?

Satellites from Launches 2 onwards

My analysis based on TLEs and SupTLEs:

Satellites actively deorbited

Sat ID	Launch	SSN	Altitude	Fail Date	Deorbit date
Starlink 1220	5	45211	-	-	2020 Feb 28
Starlink 1118	3	44948	-	-	2020 Apr 2
Starlink 1087	3	44965	-	-	2020 May 29
Starlink 1440	8	45657	295	2020 Jun 5?	2020 Jul 14
Starlink 1157	4	45055	300	2020 Jul 3?	2020 Oct 22?
Starlink 1077	3	44960	550	2020 Jul 5?	2020 Nov 9?
Starlink 1158	4	45056	550	2020 Oct 1?	2020 Dec 5
Starlink 1702	13	46551	370	2020 Oct 26?	2021 Mar 6
Starlink 1105	5	45218	390	2021 Feb 8?	(in process)
Starlink 1824	14	46721	390	2021 Feb 15?	(in process)
Starlink 1175	4	45097	300-350	-	2021 Mar 19

Starlink 1157 underwent uncontrolled decay until 2020 Oct 12 when powered deorbit began.

Satellites in orbit undergoing uncontrolled orbital decay

Failed satellites often are manuevered to different orbits for a while before beginning steady decay. The dates here are when steady decay began.

Sat ID	Launch	SSN	Altitude	Fail Date	SPX Fail	Reentry Date	Orbit	Orbit zoom	Notes
Starlink 1040	2	44745	350	2019 Dec 15	Yes	2020 Sep 3
Starlink 1037	2	44742	550	2020 Feb 10?	Yes
Starlink 1065	2	44770	550	2020 Feb 20	Yes
Starlink 1311	6	45363	375	2020 Apr 5?	Yes	2020 Sep 25
Starlink 1268	6	45385	380	2020 May 5?	Yes (NM)	2020 Nov 19
Starlink 1126	3	44951	549	2020 Jun 1	Yes (NM)
Starlink 1353	7	45537	535	2020 Jun 9	Yes (NM)
Starlink 1110	3	44946	550	2020 Jul 5?	Yes (NM)
Starlink 1447	8	45664	395	2020 Jul 5	Yes (NM)	2021 Jan 8
Starlink 1299	6	45418	550	2020 Jul 6?	Yes
Starlink 1203	5	45202	550	2020 Jul 7?	Yes
Starlink 1085	3	44963	550	2020 Aug 6	Yes
Starlink 1181	4	45086	550	2020 Aug 15?	Yes (NM)
Starlink 1290	6	45392	550	2020 Sep 13?
Starlink 1326	7	45575	550	2020 Sep 15?
Starlink 1129	4	45046	550	2020 Sep 16?
Starlink 1024	2	44729	550	2020 Sep 25
Starlink 1819	14	46670	260	2020 Oct 18		2020 Oct 25
Starlink 1915	15	46750	260	2020 Oct 24		2020 Nov 6
Starlink 1950	15	46778	260	2020 Oct 24		2020 Nov 6
Starlink 1772	14	46678	340	2020 Nov 1		2020 Dec 28
Starlink 1034	2	44739	550	2020 Nov 23
Starlink 1155	4	45053	550	2021 Jan 5?
Starlink 1095	3	44971	550	2021 Jan 18?
Starlink 1210	5	45207	550	2021 Feb 10?

Satellites showing odd orbital behaviour

Sat ID	Launch	SSN	Altitude	Fail Date	SPX Fail	Orbit		Notes
Starlink 1029	2	44734	380	2020 Jan?	No			Control recovered?
Starlink 1438	8	45715	300-350	-	No
Starlink 1473	9	45737	300-350	-	No
Starlink 1348	7	45561	390	2020 Aug 17?	No			Interrupted decay
Starlink 1516	9	45749	380	2020 Jul 5?	No
Starlink 1469	9	45752	309	2020 Aug 30?	No

• SpaceX May 15 report to FCC:

  
  

  Bad Sat No.	Altitude	Tentative ID
  7	549	Starlink 1268?
  8	373	Starlink 1311?
  9	550
  10	550
  11	401
  12	383	Starlink 1029?

• SpaceX Jun 23 report to FCC:

  
  This report only includes sats which lost manueverability at altitudes above injection. The text (mentioning 478 satellites )implies V0.9 satellites are now omitted. Nos 1 to 6 are clearly the same as nos 7 to 12 of the previous report. Looking at the orbital data there are no obvious candidates for the additional 3 satellites (Nos 7 to 9 in the new table).

  I urge SpaceX to include the specific satellite names or catalog numbers in future reports so that this information can be independently assessed, and so that other satellite operators know that the relevant satellites are not able to maneuver.

  Elias Eccli suggested a set of identifications on twitter; these are included here. However, I don't see evidence yet that Starlink 1204 has failed.

  
  

  Bad Sat No.	Altitude	Eccli proposed ID
  1	549	Starlink 1037
  2	373	Starlink 1311
  3	550	Starlink 1204
  4	550	Starlink 1065
  5	401	Starlink 1157
  6	383	Starlink 1029
  7	550	Starlink 1110
  8	550	Starlink 1126
  9	535	Starlink 1353

  In addition to these proposed identifications, my list includes S-1040, S-1440, and S-1268. These all failed at or near injection altitude, so that explains why they are not in the SpaceX list.