Tech Desk 
Feb 12, 2025
In a series of extraterrestrial destruction, an overwhelming number of 120 Starlink satellites burned up during reentry in January 2025 alone.
The devastating development has caused tremendous backlash, raising concerns about the toll it took on the environment's well-being.
Surprisingly, the destruction of Starlink satellites reportedly stimulated the frequency of artificial meteor showers, caused by the decomposition of Starlink satellites.
120 Starlink satellites burned up in January 2025
At least four to five Starlink satellites had been burning on a daily basis throughout January 2025 to account for a total of 120, said Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard Center for Astrophysics.
This was partly prompted by SpaceX's ambitious plans to replace its outdating first-generation satellites with newer ones, which led to the reentrance of over 500 out of the original 4,700 satellites into Earth’s atmosphere.
The fire on the satellites during reentrance is said to have erupted because of the extensive magnitude of friction which occurs at speeds of around 27,000 km/h (16,800 mph), subsequently forming bright streaks in the sky.
The matter of concern was that this process causes the emission of metallic byproducts, especially aluminium oxide, into the atmosphere.
