--- title: "Twenty SpaceX Satellites Fall From Space After Falcon 9 Explodes" description: "Last week, the upper stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded mid-flight. The 20 Starlink satellites it was carrying have since crashed." date: "2024-07-16" modified: "2024-07-16" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/spacex-satellites-fall-from-space" categories: - "Falcon" - "Future Society" - "Space" - "SpaceX" tags: - "falcon 9" - "SpaceX" - "the digest" --- # Twenty SpaceX Satellites Fall From Space After Falcon 9 Explodes ![Last week, the upper stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded mid-flight. The 20 Starlink satellites it was carrying have since crashed.]() *\Image: SpaceX\* ## Sinking Feeling Last week, the upper stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket started unexpectedly accumulating substantial amounts of ice before [experiencing]() what CEO Elon Musk later [referred]() to as a "rapid unscheduled disassembly," a tongue-in-cheek term for a mid-flight explosion. It was the first Falcon 9 failure since 2016, following a string of 344 successful consecutive launches. And the 20 Starlink broadband internet satellites it was meant to carry into orbit have since met their fiery demise, as Harvard astrophysicist and space tracker extraordinaire Jonathan McDowell [later confirmed](). That's despite SpaceX trying its best to salvage the satellites. "The team made contact with 10 of the satellites and attempted to have them raise orbit using their ion thrusters, but they are in an enormously high-drag environment with their perigee, or lowest point of their elliptical orbit, only 135 km above the Earth," SpaceX wrote in a [July 12 update](). "As such, the satellites will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and fully demise." "They do not pose a threat to other satellites in orbit or to public safety," the company [added](). ## Crash and Burn Over the weekend, McDowell [confirmed]() that several of the Starlink satellites had already reentered the Earth's atmosphere, where they almost certainly burned up. [Footage]() showed [already-familiar streaks of light in the night sky](). It's an exceedingly rare event given SpaceX's unprecedented track record. The last Falcon 9 [launch failure in 2016]() saw an Israeli communications satellite destroyed when the rocket exploded on the launch pad. "We knew this incredible run had to come to an end at some point," SpaceX's former vice president of propulsion Tom Mueller, who was instrumental in the development of the rocket, [tweeted]() after last week's accident, "but 344 flights in a row is amazing. The team will fix the problem and start the cycle again." For now, the Federal Aviation Administration has [grounded all Falcon 9 rocket launches]() pending a joint investigation, which could force the company to delay its Polaris Dawn mission, which will see billionaire astronaut Jared Isaacman attempt to [perform the first-ever private spacewalk](). The mission is tentatively scheduled for July 31, but given the latest news, we should expect delays. **More on the failure:** *[All SpaceX's Falcon 9 Rockets Grounded After One of Them Explodes]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()