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Decay Watch: What Fell Back to Earth This Week, and What Is Coming Down Next
97 tracked objects reentered in the last 30 days — 47 of them Starlink — and 100 more are already decaying. The running list, by name, from the catalog.
Topics: spacex space-civilization
Everything tracked in orbit comes down eventually — the only questions are when, and whether anyone planned it. This page keeps the running list from the catalog: what reentered, by name, and what is already on the way down. The full sky is on the orbit dashboard.
Down in the last 7 days
12 objects in the legacy catalog carry decay dates in the past week:
| Object | Owner | Type | Launched | Decayed | Years up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| STARLINK-1283 | US | Payload | 2020-03-18 | 2026-11-01 | 6.6 |
| THORAD AGENA D DEB | US | Rocket body / debris | 1969-09-30 | 2026-10-31 | 57.1 |
| COSMOS 1275 DEB | CIS | Rocket body / debris | 1981-06-04 | 2026-10-31 | 45.4 |
| IOD-1 | SPN | Payload | 2025-03-15 | 2026-10-30 | 1.6 |
| STARLINK-1309 | US | Payload | 2020-03-18 | 2026-10-29 | 6.6 |
| STARLINK-30233 | US | Payload | 2023-07-10 | 2026-10-28 | 3.3 |
| FLOCK 4G-20 | US | Payload | 2025-01-14 | 2026-10-28 | 1.8 |
| AUREOLE 2 | FR | Payload | 1973-12-26 | 2026-10-27 | 52.8 |
| STARLINK-1036 | US | Payload | 2019-11-11 | 2026-10-27 | 7.0 |
| IPERDRONE.0 | IT | Payload | 2024-08-16 | 2026-10-27 | 2.2 |
| STARLINK-2236 | US | Payload | 2021-05-15 | 2026-10-26 | 5.4 |
| NOAA 17 DEB | US | Rocket body / debris | 2002-06-24 | 2026-10-26 | 24.3 |
Label: Primary — CelesTrak legacy SATCAT (decay dates are updated in place and current; the file’s launch history ends July 11, 2026 at NORAD 69,999, so a brand-new object decaying would not appear here yet).
The month, in one paragraph
97 objects decayed in the last 30 days. 47 were Starlink satellites — the constellation’s oldest generations retiring on schedule. The longest-lived object to come down this month: THORAD AGENA D DEB (US), launched 1969-09-30, decayed 2026-10-31 — 57.1 years in orbit.
Already coming down: the decaying set
100 objects have current element sets flagged as decaying — their orbits are low enough that drag is winning now. The 20 lowest, by current mean altitude computed from their element sets:
| Object | Owner | Type | Launched | Mean altitude |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NAPA-1 | THAI | Payload | 2020-09-03 | 148 km |
| HYPSO-1 | NOR | Payload | 2022-01-13 | 176 km |
| STARLINK-3306 | US | Payload | 2021-12-18 | 183 km |
| COSMOS 1408 DEB | CIS | Rocket body / debris | 1982-09-16 | 196 km |
| STARLINK-1327 | US | Payload | 2020-04-22 | 203 km |
| STARLINK-30239 | US | Payload | 2023-07-10 | 216 km |
| STARLINK-1478 | US | Payload | 2020-06-13 | 217 km |
| OBJECT C | PRC | Payload | 2022-08-10 | 220 km |
| SWIFT | US | Payload | 2004-11-20 | 226 km |
| STARLINK-1420 | US | Payload | 2020-06-04 | 228 km |
| STARLINK-2298 | US | Payload | 2021-03-24 | 228 km |
| CZ-2C DEB | PRC | Rocket body / debris | 2011-07-06 | 234 km |
| LEOPARD | JPN | Payload | 1998-11-20 | 237 km |
| STARLINK-1338 | US | Payload | 2020-04-22 | 238 km |
| OBJECT A | US | Payload | 2024-07-04 | 243 km |
| STARLINK-4607 | US | Payload | 2022-09-05 | 244 km |
| STARLINK-5701 | US | Payload | 2023-02-02 | 250 km |
| STARLINK-1730 | US | Payload | 2020-10-06 | 251 km |
| STARLINK-1274 | US | Payload | 2020-03-18 | 252 km |
| STARLINK-1400 | US | Payload | 2020-06-04 | 255 km |
Label: CelesTrak GP “decaying” special group, element epochs current to 2026-11-02; owner, type and launch date joined from the legacy catalog. A decaying flag is a trajectory, not a date — drag depends on solar activity, and any single object can take days or months from here. Any source that gives you an exact reentry day weeks out is guessing; exact predictions exist only in the final days, from the Space Force’s tracking messages.
Natural decay vs. deorbit
Most of what falls is unplanned history — dead satellites and spent rocket bodies from decades of launches, finally dragged down. Starlink is the exception at scale: its satellites carry propulsion, deorbit themselves at end of life, and are designed to burn up fully. Label: Design claim is SpaceX’s; the decay counts are the catalog’s. The catalog does not say which individual reentries were maneuvered — it says when they happened.
Sources
- CelesTrak GP, decaying group — 100 element sets, checked 2026-11-02.
- CelesTrak legacy SATCAT text file — decay dates for the last-7-days and last-30-days lists.
- US Space Force / 18th Space Defense Squadron via Space-Track — the underlying tracking authority CelesTrak republishes.
This page regenerates daily.