I think authorities are becoming stricter in requirements for end-of-life planning for anything you launch. * For some other satellites, there are plans to mov

I think authorities are becoming stricter in requirements for end-of-life planning for anything you launch. * For some other satellites, there are plans to move them to a graveyard orbit when they are no longer useful. Of course, this requires the satellite to take action, so it cannot be done if the satellite would become unresponsive. * In some cases, orbits are selected that will degrade quite quickly even when the satellite is non-responsive. IIRC, Starlink satellites would deorbit in a matter of months. * Active research is also being done w.r.t. deorbiting satellites at end of life (e.g. with a sail [0]). To launch anything you have to get various approvals. Those approval processes are becoming stricter in their requirements for end-of-life planning. This should help lessen the effects of the bug you describe. Of course, there are situations that are not accounted for in those plans. If some malfunction causes a satellite to e.g. explode in orbit, it will leave behind a lot of space debris, and any deorbiting plans requiring action on the part of the satellite are useless. So what I described above helps, but doesn't fix the issue completely. [0] http://www.esa.int/Safety_Security/Space_Debris/Setting_sail_for_sustainable_space http://www.esa.int/Safety_Security/Space_Debris/Setting_sail...