SpaceX gives China reason to complain to UN

China has complained to the UN about the satellites of the SpaceX company. The reason for this is two unwanted approaches of the Starlink satellite to the Chinese space station.

China vs. SpaceX

There’s another new story in the China vs USA series. This time, however, Huawei is not playing one of the main roles. Instead, this time the focus is on SpaceX, a US company, due to alleged misconduct. A total of two incidents are said to have occurred in space this year. China accuses the satellite Internet provider of flying its satellites too close to the Chinese space station Tianhe. As a result, the space station had to perform an evasive maneuver. The Chinese government was therefore forced to complain to the UN space agency.

Incidents of international concern

China, meanwhile, is more than just incensed by the two incidents. Accordingly, the Middle Kingdom is also trying to mobilize other states against SpaceX. To achieve this, the state has asked the UN to forward the relevant info to every other member. In particular, the signatories of the so-called “Outer Space Treaty” should be aware of the incidents and act accordingly. After all, it is the task of the respective states to see to it that the laws are observed. According to the Chinese government, it does not matter whether the laws are disregarded by states or companies.

A bad first year for Tianhe

China sent its first national space station into space with “Tianhe.” In the process, the first module lifted off from Earth this spring. Then in June, the first taikonauts flew behind it and moved into the space station. While “Tianhe” is just as much a flying object in space as its US counterpart “ISS”, the number of satellites continues to grow. SpaceX, with its Starlink program, is just one example of how satellite Internet providers are increasingly causing a veritable traffic jam in space. CEO Elon Musk’s company alone now populates Earth’s orbit with nearly 1,600 satellites.

Experts are worried

And that appears to be just the beginning. After all, the number of potential providers for satellite Internet is growing steadily. Experts have been watching the development with worry lines for some time now. After all, they see it as an increasing risk of accidents occurring in space. Even if there is no need to fear personal injury, broken satellites are a source of increasing space debris. This can become a potential danger for much more important missiles such as space stations and their crews. This is not only the case with the virgin space station Tianhe. Also the ISS has to fight regularly with flying debris. Evasive maneuvers are the result there, too.

Is China partly to blame?

However, this seems to be only one side of the coin. After all, it is apparently as if China is at least somewhat complicit in the whole situation. Thus also the realm of the middle provided for each quantity space junk. The cause was the launch of an old weather satellite in 2007. The resulting debris has already forced the ISS to make several dicey evasive maneuvers.