Twenty Starlink satellites have fallen to Earth and burned up in the atmosphere just days after being launched into orbit due to a faulty rocket.

The Elon Musk-founded firm operates a constellation of over 3,000 satellites in low-Earth orbit that can provide a broadband-quality data service to devices across the globe, including in areas not served by traditional radio towers.

On July 11, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket with 20 additional satellites for the constellation. While the launch was a success at first, a liquid oxygen leak developed on the second stage, which prevented one of the engines from firing.

Starlink confirmed that this technical issue left the satellites “in an eccentric orbit” that was just 135km above the Earth, which caused them to face higher atmospheric drag than was anticipated. 

“At this level of drag, our maximum available thrust is unlikely to be enough to successfully raise the satellites,” the firm said. “As such, the satellites will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and fully demise. They do not pose a threat to other satellites in orbit or to public safety.

“This event is a reminder of how technically challenging spaceflight is. To date, we have completed 364 successful Falcon launches – safely carrying astronauts, customer payloads and thousands of Starlink satellites to orbit – making the Falcon family of rockets one of the most reliable in the world. 

“SpaceX will perform a full investigation in coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration, determine root cause and make corrective actions to ensure the success of future missions.”

It’s not the first time that Starlink has faced issues with its technology. In February it was forced to deorbit around 100 ‘early-version’ satellites that were subject to a design flaw that could see them fail in orbit and become non-manoeuvrable.

The service has also faced criticism over the number of satellites it is sending into orbit due to its potential impact on the escalating space debris problem. As the number of satellites in orbit increases, so does the risk that some of it will collide with manned and unmanned space assets. It is estimated that around one million pieces of debris larger than 1cm are in Earth’s orbit, and around 100 trillion pieces of old satellite are not being tracked.

Starlink ultimately plans to launch nearly 12,000 satellites to complete the constellation, but is even considering launching up to 34,400 in the long term.