Abstract

Starlink is occupying Low Earth orbit (LEO) with thousands of small satellites, which provide global high-speed internet. We calculate that the privately owned megaconstellation accounts for 52% of all mass in LEO and 75% of all mass launched into this strategic orbit since 2019, when Starlink’s operations began, and early 2023. With these statistics as the basis for a quantitative critical political geography, we conceptualize orbital occupation and differentiate it from terrestrial occupation. Orbital occupation is kinetic rather than fixed in place, fundamentally volumetric rather than superficial, highly exclusionary, meaning first occupants accrue advantages at the expense of latecomers, and reliant on advanced engineering. Orbital space is also a finite resource increasingly occupied by commercial rather than state actors, which see opportunities for profit. While Starlink’s activities are authorized by the U.S. government, when combined with parent company SpaceX, which launches the satellites into space, the two companies can access and occupy orbital space in a way no state, not even the U.S., can match. Given the two companies’ combined might boosted by Elon Musk’s ability to influence politics and weak national and international regulation of LEO , dislodging Starlink’s domination will prove difficult.