SpaceX is launching Starlink satellites faster than it did during its previous record year, according to launch data compiled by astronomer Jonathan McDowell’s satellite tracker. For people who use, compete with, or regulate satellite internet, the number is the point: SpaceX is still widening the gap by doing the boring operational thing well, over and over, with Falcon 9.
McDowell’s data shows SpaceX placed 1,589 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit during the first half of 2026. At the same point in 2025, the tally was 1,489. That puts SpaceX 100 satellites ahead of last year’s pace.
Last year was already the company’s benchmark. SpaceX deployed 3,180 Starlink satellites in 2025, according to the same tracking data. Since Starlink began, SpaceX has launched more than 12,400 satellites for the constellation, with nearly 11,000 still operating.
SpaceX also said it deployed another 29 Starlink satellites last night in a post on X. That launch fits the larger pattern: frequent Falcon 9 missions carrying batches of satellites to low-Earth orbit, where they join a network intended to provide internet connectivity from space.
Falcon 9 is the production line
The comparison with Amazon’s Leo service shows how much of this is launch cadence rather than PowerPoint ambition. Amazon has deployed about 400 satellites over the past 15 months, according to the figures cited for the service, and plans a constellation of 3,232 satellites.
SpaceX’s advantage comes from the reusable Falcon 9 system. Reuse does not make orbital mechanics easy, and it does not erase the cost of building satellites. It does let SpaceX fly the same basic mission profile repeatedly: refurbish the booster, stack another payload, launch again, and fill out the constellation in batches.
On the numbers available so far, SpaceX’s 2026 Starlink deployment rate is equivalent to putting up something in the neighborhood of Amazon’s planned Leo constellation in about a year. That is arithmetic, not a prediction: 2026 is only halfway counted in McDowell’s data, and launch schedules can slip for weather, range availability, technical issues, or other reasons.
Even with that caveat, the scale is hard to dodge. SpaceX has already put more Starlink satellites into orbit in six months than many satellite operators plan for entire networks. The company’s lead in low-Earth-orbit broadband is not just that it started early. It keeps feeding the constellation faster than its nearest large rival has begun to build one.
This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.
