SpaceX Stargaze

Authored by Jacob Cummings and Connor Chen

In late January 2026, SpaceX unveiled Stargaze, a novel SSA system that enhances orbital safety in an increasingly congested low-Earth orbit (LEO). Stargaze leverages existing star tracker cameras, already installed on SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, to detect and track nearby satellites and debris.

Traditional ground-based radar and telescope systems track an object only a few times per day due to daytime limitations, weather, and atmospheric distortion. This results in significant uncertainties in orbital predictions. The flaws are especially pronounced when satellites maneuver to avoid orbital collision.

The Starlink mega-constellation contains nearly 10,000 satellites, which creates a network of 30,000 star trackers. Stargaze aggregates these observations to produce precise, near real-time orbit estimates, velocity predictions, and collision risk assessments for over 30 million transits daily in LEO.

The technology generates Conjunction Data Messages (CDMs),

detailed warnings of potential close approaches, in minutes rather than the hours or days, a significant improvement from current technological capabilities. This dramatic improvement allows satellite operators to execute timely avoidance maneuvers, drastically reducing the risk of collisions between satellites and debris.

SpaceX has committed to making Stargaze's tracking data open access to all satellite operators through its dedicated space-traffic management platform. The service is offered as a public-good initiative to encourage ephemeris sharing (trajectory predictions) among operators, fostering transparency and safer operations for all stakeholders. In exchange for this access to Stargaze-generated CDMs and shared data from participants, operators are encouraged, but not required, to submit their own ephemeris to contribute to the system.

SpaceX has not announced plans to charge for the technology, but critics warn that overreliance on this private SSA system could carry future financial, strategic, or structural costs as it becomes wide-adopted across the sector. Given the drastic improvement in the capacity to monitor satellite and orbital debris, many expect Stargaze to quickly emerge as the default SSA provider for LEO.

As of March 2026, Stargaze remains in a closed beta phase. SpaceX has initially launched the pilot with over a dozen satellite operators. These operators have provided positive feedback. SpaceX announced plans to widen access to more participants this spring, allowing any satellite operator to join by submitting ephemeris data and receiving real-time insights in return. While an official date for the full public rollout has been specified beyond "this spring", updates are expected through the company’s official Starlink page (starlink.com/updates/stargaze).