Soviet-era Meteor 2-7 weather satellite breaks up in low Earth orbit

Space-tracking company LeoLabs reported a debris-generating event at the known orbital location of the Soviet-era Meteor 2-7 weather satellite as it passed over a monitoring site in Western Australia. The firm said it observed "tens of fragments" near the spacecraft, which was launched in 1981.

The incident follows several other breakups in the past six months, including the disintegration of the U.S. Cold-War spy satellite USA 32 in September 2026, a Chinese rocket body in August 2026, and a SpaceX Starlink satellite earlier in the year. LeoLabs noted that these events underscore the need for continuous space-situational awareness.

Orbital-debris specialist Jim Shell highlighted on X that Meteor 2-7 had previously broken apart in March 2004 at an altitude of about 530 miles (855 km), where "debris spatial density is highest." He added that the recent fragmentation adds to the growing concentration of debris in low Earth orbit.

Data from the European Space Agency show that tracked debris objects have risen from roughly 16,000 in 2005 to more than 44,000 in 2026, an increase of about 180 %. Although most fragments are small, their high orbital velocities give them the potential to damage operational spacecraft.

SpaceX disclosed that its Starlink satellites performed over 40 avoidance maneuvers per year between June 2025 and May 2026 to evade debris or other satellites. Hugh Lewis, a space-sustainability expert at the University of Birmingham, warned that a collision involving an operational satellite in a megaconstellation is becoming increasingly likely despite such maneuvers.

Despite the rising debris counts, private firms and governments continue to plan large-scale satellite launches, with SpaceX citing ambitions to deploy up to one million data-relay satellites in orbit.