​Namibia has refused to grant operating license to Starlink

Elon Musk’s space company Starlink recently posted an update on Satellite 34343, which it lost contact with late last month. The global internet company, owned by SpaceX, said the satellite “experienced an anomaly” while it was in LEO about 560 km above Earth. On March 30, 2026, the official Starlink X account announced that it had lost communication with Starlink satellite 34343. The post cited an “anomaly” as the cause, and added that Starlink and SpaceX will work on any “corrective actions” if needed.However, space technology company LeoLabs had a different explanation for the incident. LeoLabs released a series of posts following Starlink’s post, describing the disappearance of satellite 34343 as a “fragment formation event” that created at least “tens of objects in the vicinity of the satellite.”

What did Starlink say when the satellite disappeared?

On Sunday, March 29, Starlink satellite 34343 experienced an anomaly in orbit, resulting in a loss of communication with the satellite ~560 km above Earth. Latest analysis shows no new risks from this event @Space_Station for your crew, or the upcoming launch of NASA’s Artemis II mission. We will continue to monitor the satellite for any trackable debris and coordinate with @NASA and @USSpaceForce. The incident also posed no new threats to this morning’s Transporter-16 mission, which was designed to avoid Starlink, with payloads deployed either far above or far below the constellation. The SpaceX and Starlink teams are actively working to determine the root cause and will rapidly implement any necessary corrective actions.

What Leolabs said

LeoLabs provided further comments following Starlink’s post, adding additional context:LeoLabs detected a fragment formation event associated with SpaceX Starlink 34343 on March 29, 2026.1/ The LeoLabs global radar network detected tens of objects in the vicinity of the satellite shortly after the event, passing over our radar site in the Azores, Portugal for the first time. Additional fragments may arise – analysis is ongoing.2/ We described this event as likely being caused by an internal energy source rather than a collision with space debris or another object.Due to the low altitude of the event, fragments of this anomaly will fall out of orbit within a few weeks.3/ Our analysis indicates that this event is very similar to a previous event involving Starlink 35956 on 17 December 2025. These incidents illustrate the need for rapid characterization of abnormal events to enable elucidation of the operating environment.4/ Our team will continue to monitor the situation and provide ongoing data and insights in support of our customers and partners.

Starlink satellite captures ‘tumbling’ image in 2025

Starlink satellite 35956 suffered a serious anomaly in December 2025. Here’s how Starlink described the incident in a post on X:On December 17, Starlink experienced an anomaly on satellite 35956, resulting in a loss of communication with the vehicle at 418 km. The anomaly caused air to enter the propulsion tanks, rapidly decay by about 4 km in semi-major axis, and released a small number of trackable low relative velocity objects. SpaceX is coordinating with @USSpaceForce and @NASA to monitor the objects. The satellite remains largely intact, wobbly, and will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and be completely destroyed within a few weeks. The satellite’s current trajectory will keep it below the @Space_Station, posing no threat to the orbiting laboratory or its crew.As the world’s largest satellite constellation operator, we are deeply committed to space security. We take these incidents seriously. Our engineers are rapidly working to narrow down the root cause and source of the anomaly and are already in the process of deploying software in our vehicles that increases protection against this type of incident.