China accused the United States of ignoring its space treaty obligations due to the risk of collision with Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites, with the Chinese government saying in a complaint to the United Nations on December 6 that the Chinese space station, called Tiangong, had to perform evasive maneuvers by In order to prevent a possible collision with two satellites of the constellation of satellites launched by SpaceX on July 1 and October 21.
According to the British newspaper “Daily Mail”, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman accused Washington of ignoring its obligations under the treaty to protect the safety of the three-man crew of the Tiangong station after the two separate launches.
China launched Tianhe, the main part of what will be a permanent space station called the Tiangong Space Station in April.
Tiangong, which means “heavenly palace”, will compete with the old International Space Station (ISS), which is operated by space agencies in the United States, Canada, Russia, Japan and Europe.
Meanwhile, SpaceX’s Starlink is a constellation of more than 1,700 satellites intended to provide Internet access to most of the Earth.
Perhaps this new issue between China and SpaceX is another reminder of how dangerous low Earth orbit is due to space junk and man-made space objects.
Dodgy maneuvers are becoming more frequent as more objects crowd into near-Earth orbit and trajectory adjustments are forced to reduce collision risks, said Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
He added, “We have already observed an increase in the number of near passes since Starlink’s deployment, any collision between Tiangong and the Starlink satellite is likely to ‘destroy’ the entire space station and kill everyone on board.”
During the events of July and October, Starlink satellites moved into orbits that prompted space station operators to change course, said the document Beijing submitted to the United Nations space agency this month.
“The maneuvering strategy is unknown and it has been difficult to assess orbital errors,” Beijing said of the satellite involved in the October accident, adding that it had taken measures to ensure the safety and life of astronauts in orbit.
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