Collision risk: SpaceX to fly 4,000 Starlink satellites at same height

SpaceX is very close to receiving approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to fly 4,000 Starlink satellites at the same altitude in Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

The space agency has already received approval from the FCC to launch 1,584 Starlink satellites at an altitude of 550 kilometers. Now, SpaceX is looking to bring in the already positioned Starlink satellites from 1,000 kilometers to 550 kilometers so they all line up together at the same altitude. In total, SpaceX will have 4,408 satellites at an altitude of between 540 to 570 kilometers.

FCC's acting chairwoman, Jessica Rosenworcel, has backed SpaceX's request to fly all of the Starlink satellites at the same altitude and has called for a vote, according to Bloomberg. Rival companies such as Amazon's Project Kuiper, ViaSat, OneWeb, and Telesat all have plans to launch their own satellites into low earth orbit. Visat said back in March that having 1,000's of satellites in low earth orbit would increase the chance of collisions, which would leave concerning debris in space.

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