As part of a study, NASA supports letting SpaceX operate 400 satellites in 300-kilometer orbits, below the International Space Station, for 60 days.
SpaceX has received support from NASA in its proposal to orbit Starlink satellites about 200 kilometers closer to Earth.
SpaceX wants permission to orbit its cellular Starlink satellites 340 to 360 kilometers around Earth, citing the benefits of reduced latency for an upcoming direct-to-cell Starlink service. The issue is that SpaceX wants to potentially orbit thousands of Starlink satellites below the International Space Station, which circles the Earth between altitudes of 360 to 470 km.
In 2022, NASA flagged the proliferation of Starlink satellites as a potential obstacle to sending missions to the International Space Station.
