SpaceX Starlink 34343 satellite breaks into tens of objects
SpaceX's Starlink 34343 satellite broke into "tens of objects" over the weekend, about 563km above Earth.
This is the second time in a few months a Starlink has split apart (last December, another one lost control and scattered debris).
Space tracking firm Leo Labs says an internal energetic source likely caused the latest breakup.
SpaceX says no risk, debris concerns
SpaceX says there's no risk to the International Space Station or NASA's Artemis 2 mission launching this week, but these incidents are raising eyebrows as more satellites crowd low Earth orbit.
With one or two Starlinks re-entering Earth's atmosphere almost every day, people are starting to worry about space junk and possible ozone damage from burning chemicals.
A recent near-miss with a Chinese satellite shows just how tricky it is to keep everything safe up there.