Key Takeaways:
SpaceX launched Stargaze, a new tool that uses navigation cameras on Starlink satellites to track space junk in real-time.
Stargaze is much faster than old ground radars, it can spot 30 million movements a day and send warnings in just minutes.
SpaceX will give this data to other companies for free, but only if those companies agree to share their own location data.
Today, SpaceX officially launched Stargaze, a new safety network that uses navigation cameras on Starlink satellites to track space junk in real-time. This system turns the thousands of Starlink satellites already in orbit into a giant sensor network that watches the sky for danger.
The 60-Meter Warning
In reality, this system has already prevented a disaster. If you want to know how well Stargaze works, SpaceX shared details of a scary incident from late 2025.
One day, a satellite from another company changed its path but they didn’t warn. Old tracking systems on the ground, which use slow data, predicted that the two satellites would pass safely with a gap of 9 kilometers. However, Stargaze looked closer and found an error. The new data showed the two objects were going to pass within just 60 meters of each other.
Starlink team had enough time to react because Stargaze sent a warning message in minutes instead of hours. They moved their satellite out of the path in less than an hour. Thanks to fast data, the two satellites wouldn’t have crashed.
SpaceX launched Stargaze to track space junk in real-time
A “Neighborhood Watch” for Orbit
“Avoiding collisions needs to happen in minutes, not hours,” a SpaceX spokesperson said during the launch. For the safety of everyone, SpaceX turns Stargaze into a public tool.
SpaceX will offer Stargaze data to other satellite operators for free beginning in Spring 2026. However, there is a condition. It is a fair trade: if companies want to see this high-quality tracking data, they have to agree to share their own flight plans (trajectory data) regularly.
This solves a big problem in the industry known as “silent satellites.” Often, operators move their satellites without telling, which will cause confusion. SpaceX is trying to create a standard way to communicate in a place that usually has no rules by forcing companies to share their plans when they fly . Sharing data this way works very well after they take a 12 major backtest.
Acting as the Traffic Police
SpaceX has the most to lose if a crash happens because they have over 9,500 Starlink satellites now in orbit. They are worried about the “Kessler Syndrome,” a situation where one crash creates a chain reaction of junk that destroys everything else in orbit. Stargaze is their insurance policy against this Syndrome.
SpaceX shows a big change in how they operate. They have evolved from just being a participant in the space economy to becoming the Air Traffic Controller. They have built a safety net that protects not only their own satellites but also the 30,000 other objects currently flying around the Earth by using the huge size of the Starlink network.
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