It depends on density and cross section (and solar flux); a 500km orbit can be 2-30 years, depending. That's all basically still in the "self-cleaning" domain.

It depends on density and cross section (and solar flux); a 500km orbit can be 2-30 years, depending. That's all basically still in the "self-cleaning" domain. Being rather dense and flat, I'd expect Starlink to be on the lower end of that range. http://www.spaceacademy.net.au/watch/debris/orblife.htm http://www.spaceacademy.net.au/watch/debris/orblife.htm The Starlink "0.9" batch was launched in May 2019. Most reached operational altitude; those that did not decayed quite early, as expected. Those that remained operational have by now been deliberately dropped, but some 5 seem to have become unresponsive at a more-or-less operational altitude. See dashboard at https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=49936.200 https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=49936.200 Starlink-43 is the first of those to fully decay, reentering around 26 January. https://in-the-sky.org/spacecraft.php?id=44257 https://in-the-sky.org/spacecraft.php?id=44257 Starlink-24 is probably going to be the slowest of that cohort. It might have a couple years left. https://in-the-sky.org/spacecraft.php?id=44257 https://in-the-sky.org/spacecraft.php?id=44257 Natural decay in <5 years is really quite fast as these things go.