Starlink and Chinese satellites nearly collided last week

Starlink satellites with star arrays deployed. | Image: SpaceX

A collision successful abstraction was narrowly avoided past week erstwhile a recently deployed Chinese outer came wrong a fewer 100 meters of 1 of the astir 9,000 Starlink satellites presently operating successful debased Earth orbit. SpaceX is laying the blasted connected the outer relation for not sharing determination data.

"When outer operators bash not stock ephemeris for their satellites, dangerously adjacent approaches tin hap successful space," wrote Michael Nicolls, VP of Starlink Engineering. "A fewer days ago, 9 satellites were deployed from a motorboat from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center successful Northwestern China. As acold arsenic we know, nary coordination oregon deconfliction with …

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