SpaceX reveals 650 Starlink near misses as fears grow over collisions in space

SpaceX has issued a stark warning about the growing risk of collisions in low Earth orbit (LEO), calling on satellite operators around the world to share more information about their spacecraft after hundreds of satellites came close to its Starlink network.

The company says Starlink encountered potential near-miss situations involving around 650 unique manoeuvring satellites in 2026, with only about half of those spacecraft sharing trajectory information.

SpaceX argues that operators changing the course of their satellites without providing updated data are creating a preventable risk in an increasingly crowded orbital environment.

Two dangerously close encounters involving Starlink

As reported by Business Insider, the warning comes as Starlink has grown into the world’s largest satellite constellation. SpaceX now has around 11,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, meaning its spacecraft make up a substantial proportion of all active satellites circling Earth.

With the company planning an even larger constellation, the stakes surrounding space traffic management are becoming increasingly serious. SpaceX highlighted two incidents to illustrate how quickly an apparently routine orbital manoeuvre can become a potentially dangerous situation.

In August, one Starlink satellite came within 134 metres (440 ft) of another spacecraft. SpaceX said the Starlink satellite had to rotate its solar arrays into a narrow, “knife-edge” profile to reduce the risk as the other satellite unexpectedly changed direction.

A second incident occurred in October 2025, when another spacecraft altered its trajectory and temporarily put itself on a path that would have taken it within just 57 metres (187 ft) of a Starlink satellite.

Those distances might appear large compared with everyday measurements on Earth, but they are extremely small in orbital terms. Satellites travel at several kilometres per second, leaving operators with little time to respond when an unexpected change puts two spacecraft on converging paths.

According to SpaceX, the biggest problem is not simply the presence of other objects in orbit. Space debris and inactive spacecraft can often be tracked and avoided. The greater concern is another operator manoeuvring a satellite without telling other operators where it is going.

164,000 potential collision events over six months

The scale of the problem becomes clearer in SpaceX’s broader figures. The company says Starlink recorded approximately 164,000 potential collision events during the past six months.

Most of these were not imminent crashes. Satellite operators routinely monitor close approaches, many of which can be resolved without either spacecraft needing to make a significant manoeuvre. But SpaceX argues that the sheer number of potential encounters demonstrates how quickly orbital traffic is increasing.

The company says it has already moved approximately 4,400 Starlink satellites to reduce collision risks. It also publishes trajectory information for its spacecraft and provides collision-screening services intended to help other operators identify potential problems.

SpaceX’s position is that satellite operators should routinely publish accurate predictions of their spacecraft’s future positions, particularly when manoeuvres are planned.

The company’s Starlink safety guidance calls for operators to publish ephemeris data, maintain contact information and identify whether spacecraft are active and capable of manoeuvring.

A problem that goes beyond China

SpaceX says many of the satellites involved in encounters where trajectory information was unavailable were operated by Chinese organisations. However, the company says the problem is not restricted to China or Russia.

Michael Nicolls, SpaceX’s senior vice president of space systems, has called for operators from every country to share trajectory information.

Some companies may be reluctant to publish manoeuvre data because of concerns about revealing proprietary information, while in other cases operators may be prevented from sharing it by government restrictions. SpaceX argues that such policies can create unnecessary collision risks.

The issue has also attracted attention because SpaceX itself operates such a vast constellation. The company has faced criticism in the past over close approaches involving Starlink. In 2021, China complained to the United Nations after two Starlink satellites came close to the Tiangong space station.

That history means SpaceX’s latest warning is likely to be viewed with some scrutiny. The company is simultaneously asking the rest of the industry to behave responsibly while pursuing plans for a dramatically larger satellite network.

Space is becoming increasingly crowded

The consequences of a major collision could extend far beyond the two spacecraft involved. A high-speed impact in low Earth orbit could destroy satellites and scatter thousands of fragments across surrounding orbital paths. Those fragments could then collide with other spacecraft, producing still more debris in a chain reaction sometimes referred to as the Kessler syndrome.

Such an event could make parts of low Earth orbit significantly harder to use, threatening commercial satellites, scientific missions and human spaceflight.

The concern is particularly relevant as SpaceX looks to expand Starlink even further. Elon Musk has discussed plans for as many as 100,000 Starlink satellites, alongside ambitious proposals for orbital data centres. That future would make reliable space-traffic coordination more important than ever.

For SpaceX, the message is clear: satellites cannot safely share increasingly crowded orbital highways unless operators know where one another’s spacecraft are heading.

Starlink already uses automated collision-avoidance systems, and SpaceX says it provides data and tools to help other satellite operators coordinate. But the company maintains that those systems have limits when another spacecraft unexpectedly changes course without sharing its plans.

As thousands more satellites prepare to join the orbital environment, the question is no longer simply how many spacecraft can be launched. It is whether operators can establish a reliable system for ensuring that they do not get in one another’s way.

For now, SpaceX is putting the responsibility squarely on the wider satellite industry. But as Starlink continues to expand, the pressure on SpaceX to demonstrate that its own constellation can coexist safely with everyone else’s will only grow.