Elon Musk’s SpaceX could threaten life on Earth, expert warns

A leading astrophysicist has issued a serious warning about Elon Musk’s billion-dollar space company, SpaceX, claiming its growing satellite network could pose a serious risk to life on Earth.

Musk, who also owns Tesla, xAI, and Neuralink, founded SpaceX in 2002, and one of its most ambitious projects, Starlink, has been launching satellites into orbit since 2019 to provide global internet coverage.

However, scientists are increasingly concerned about the environmental dangers linked to the rapid increase in satellite launches.

According to astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, around one to two Starlink satellites are currently falling back to Earth each day, potentially creating long-term issues for the planet’s atmosphere and communications systems.

“There are roughly 8,000 Starlink satellites in orbit right now. With all constellations deployed, we could see as many as 30,000 low-Earth orbit satellites, plus another 20,000 from Chinese systems,” McDowell noted.

He explained that these satellites typically have a five-year replacement cycle, meaning an estimated five could re-enter Earth’s atmosphere daily.

McDowell warned that this constant cycle could eventually trigger a catastrophic chain reaction known as “Kessler syndrome,” where space debris collides uncontrollably, endangering satellites and future space missions.

"For the low-orbit satellites we expect a 5-year replacement cycle, and that translates to five reentries a day. It’s not clear if the Chinese will orbit-lower theirs or just accelerate us to chain-reaction Kessler syndrome," he stated.