The Earth’s orbit is becoming incredibly crowded.
A growing number of companies and world powers are establishing new satellite constellations at a breakneck pace, steadily increasing the likelihood of a potentially disastrous collision.
In the most recent blowup, a SpaceX Starlink internet satellite had to power up its thrusters to ensure it wasn’t smashed by a Chinese satellite. And the Elon Musk-led company is not happy.
“As far as we know, no coordination or deconfliction with existing satellites operating in space was performed, resulting in a [656 feet] close approach between one of the deployed satellites and STARLINK-6079 (56120) at [350 miles] altitude,” Starlink engineering VP Michael Nicolls tweeted. “Most of the risk of operating in space comes from the lack of coordination between satellite operators — this needs to change.”
“When satellite operators do not share ephemeris for their satellites, dangerously close approaches can occur in space,” he added.
The Chinese Kinetica 1 rocket, which launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert on December 9, is operated by Guangzhou-based space company CAS Space. It carried “six Chinese multifunctional satellites,” alongside a number of other spacecraft for international partners, according to state-owned news network China Daily.
The firm has since distanced itself from the event, implying that it hadn’t done anything wrong.
“Our team is currently in contact for more details,” CAS Space tweeted in response to Nicolls. “All CAS Space launches select their launch windows using the ground-based space awareness system to avoid collisions with known satellites/debris. This is a mandatory procedure.”
“We will work on identifying the exact details and provide assistance as the [launch service program],” the company added.
However, the CAS Space agreed with Nicolls that there should be more coordination to avoid orbital collisions.
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