Starlink’s got company—and orbital overcrowding is a disaster waiting to happen

On the evening of April 28th, Amazon embarked on its latest venture to rival SpaceX Starlink: the first launch of its Project Kuiper satellites. With 27 satellites now in orbit around the Earth, Amazon joins a growing number of companies working to put more than 1,000 satellites each into space to create their own mega constellation. With all of these objects in orbit, the dangers of overcrowding are increasing, and if any of these objects were to collide, the results could be disastrous. A recent report from the European Space Agency found that over 2,500 objects were launched into low-Earth orbit in 2024, more than five times the number of objects launched in any year prior to 2020. The major chunk of these launches were for commercial satellite constellations, for which the number of launches is increasing annually. These satellites enable communications and internet access in remote locations, and in areas devastated by natural disasters or war. But the space around our planet is getting increasingly congested with both functioning satellites and the junk left behind by older missions—and the problem will worsen as more satellites are launched. Experts agree that we urgently need more comprehensive rules around the management of objects in orbit, but in an increasingly polarized world, the idea of global cooperation to protect space seems more remote than ever.