SpaceX confirms Starlink satellite anomaly creates debris

The American aerospace company SpaceX confirmed that a Starlink satellite experienced an anomaly in orbit on Sunday, an event that led to a disruption of communications and the creation of space debris, reports Xinhua.

Starlink 34343 lost contact while operating at an altitude of approximately 560 kilometers above Earth, according to a statement published on Starlink’s official X (formerly Twitter) account, CE Report quotes AGERPRES.

According to the statement, recent analyses indicate that the anomaly does not pose a new risk to the International Space Station (ISS) and its crew, nor to NASA’s upcoming crewed lunar mission, Artemis II.

SpaceX stated that it will continue to monitor the satellite and any trackable debris and will coordinate its actions with NASA and the U.S. Space Force.

SpaceX also noted that the event did not pose a new risk to the Transporter-16 mission launched on Monday morning, as the deployment of the payload for that mission was carried out well above or below the Starlink constellation to avoid potential collisions.

Meanwhile, LeoLabs, an American space technology company specializing in tracking satellites and space debris in low Earth orbit, reported on Monday that it detected a fragment-generating event associated with Starlink 34343 on Sunday. Its analysis suggests similarities with a previous anomaly involving Starlink 35956 on December 17, 2025.