We are used to seeing the rocket explode Starship of SpaceXwhich this April faces its twelfth flight test, but not the satellites that the company deploys into orbit. However, that is what has happened not once, but twice since the end of last year. The last one, this Sunday.
SpaceX has published in X that it lost contact with a Starlink satellite after suffering an ‘anomaly’. The company has not explained what exactly happened, but the space tracking company LeoLabs assures that ‘he immediately detected dozens of objects in the vicinity’ of Starlink 34343 after the event.
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_Stationits crew, or to the upcoming launch of NASA’s…
— Starlink (@Starlink) March 30, 2026
‘The latest analyzes show that the event does not pose any new risk to the @Space_Station, its crew or the upcoming launch of NASA’s Artemis II mission. We will continue to monitor the satellite, as well as any traceable remains, and coordinate with @NASA and @USSpaceForce,’ SpaceX states in X.
Since SpaceX began launching the Starlink satellite network into orbit in 2019different iterations have increased in size and weight. The first Starlinks were in about 227kg by satellite and, once their single solar panel was deployed, they reached a size of 11 meters. In 2023began launching the largest ones it has built for the broadband orbital network, the Starlink V2 Miniwith 800kg of weight, a body of 4.1 meters wide and two solar wings that reach about 30 meters from end to end when unfolded. Then came the V2 Mini Optimizedwhich reduced by a 22% the weight of the previous model, leaving it in 575kg.
Starlink 34343, launched in May 2025, It belongs to the V2 Mini Optimized class and its fragments are expected to disintegrate in the atmosphere in a few weeks. SpaceX claims it is working to determine the cause of the event.
According to LeoLabs, the sudden fragmentation is likely due to ‘an internal energy source rather than a collision with space debris or another object.’
LeoLabs detected a fragment creation event involving SpaceX Starlink 34343 on 29 March 2026.
Learn more. ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/54FoV3s953
— LeoLabs (@LeoLabs_Space) March 30, 2026
Elon Musk’s company suffered a similar episode in December, when it suddenly lost communications with another satellite that also appeared to explode. Starlink 35956 also belonged to the Starlink V2 Mini Optimized variant. That incident occurred just a week after another of its satellites was close to colliding with a Chinese one.
The one last Sunday happened about 560 kilometers above Earthin the increasingly congested low Earth orbit, where more than 24,000 objectsamong them space remains and some 10,000 Starlink satellites.
In January, SpaceX requested approval of the Federal Communications Commission of the United States (FCC) to deploy ‘up to a million satellites’ in order to create a network ofdata centers in orbit. ‘We recently filed an application with the FCC to license up to one million AI satellites. I’m surprised that this hasn’t had more impact. I thought, of course, it was going to generate a lot more attention,’ SpaceX president and chief operating officer recently said. Gwynne Shotwellat Time.