SpaceX satellites face criticism in China

China says it avoided space catastrophe caused by Musk 1:00

New York / Hong Kong (CNN Business) -

Elon Musk's rocky year in China is ending on bad terms.

The tech billionaire's SpaceX satellites are coming under fire in the country after Beijing complained that two satellites launched by the US aerospace manufacturer put Chinese astronauts in danger.

In a report sent earlier this month to the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), China claimed that two SpaceX satellites flew too close to the country's space station this year, forcing the station to perform evasive maneuvers to avoid the collision.

The two encounters "constituted dangers to the life or health of the astronauts aboard the Chinese Space Station," according to the report, which says the incidents occurred in July and October.

• China warns of possible collision between Musk satellites and its space station

China filed its complaint with the UN earlier this month.

But the episodes had not received widespread attention in the country

until this week.

China's state media analyzed the incidents, which involve satellites that are part of SpaceX's Starlink constellation, a project that promises to transport high-speed internet to the entire planet.

The Global Times, a state-run tabloid, quoted an expert Monday as speculating that SpaceX may have been "trying to test China's responsiveness and awareness in space."

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The topic also attracted some 90 million views on Weibo, a social media service similar to Twitter in China.

Users criticized the "American Starlink satellites".

One person denounced the network as a "rogue project" and a "kind of monopoly in the space race."

Another accused the United States of "causing trouble."

When questioned about the incident on Tuesday, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked the United States to "take immediate measures to prevent these incidents from happening again."

"It is a typical double standard for the United States to proclaim the concept of 'responsible conduct in outer space' while ignoring its obligations under the international outer space treaties and posing a serious threat to the life and safety of astronauts." Zhao Lijian told reporters.

What does China's advancement in space mean?

3:32

SpaceX did not respond to a request from CNN Business for comment on the document China submitted to the UN, nor to questions about whether the company was able to communicate with Chinese authorities during the incidents.

The UN Office of Outer Space Affairs did not immediately respond to a request from CNN Business for comment.

In its report, China asked UN Secretary General António Guterres to remind countries of the organization's treaty governing activity in outer space.

The US Vandenberg Space Force Base, which monitors space traffic and tries to track possible collisions, did not respond to a request for comment on the UNOOSA report.

A space traffic problem

• The wreckage of a runaway Chinese rocket could soon crash into Earth.

  How dangerous is it really?

People across the United States are already using the new Starlink network, and it is rapidly expanding around the world as SpaceX launches more Starlink satellites and expands its service to new countries.

SpaceX's Starlink constellation already includes some 2,000 satellites, and it promises to far exceed that number.

But that constellation of satellites, other similar planned projects, and growing commercial and government activity in space have all contributed to a growing problem: how to manage traffic in space.

The collisions between objects in space are constant.

And the apparent clashes documented in China's report to the UN may be symptoms of a larger problem plaguing nations navigating in space: There is no perfect international solution for tracking and coordinating objects in space.

Concerns about potential collisions are likely to continue to grow, and activities in space will become more dangerous as humans put more objects into orbit.

Also keep in mind that Russia and China have conducted military antisatellite tests, or ASATs, which basically blew up satellites in orbit and created huge plumes of debris in space.

That debris moves uncontrollably through orbit, threatening any spacecraft, space station or satellite that may cross the debris field.

Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, noted that the International Space Station has had to maneuver several times in recent years to get out of the way of debris created by China's ASAT test in 2007.

In other words: all parties involved share a bit of the blame for how crowded Earth's orbit is.

"This is another sign that we are in a new era, a new space age that is both much busier and more tense," McDowell told CNN Business.

It is unclear whether the Starlink satellites mentioned in the UN report tried to get out of the way of the Chinese Space Station on their own.

During the October close encounter, according to China, the "maneuvering strategy of the satellite was unknown and orbital errors were difficult to assess", prompting the space station to evade the satellite and "avoid a possible collision."

However, Starlink's website claims that autonomous collision avoidance technology is built into its satellites, allowing them to automatically pull away if they detect a potential collision with an oncoming piece of space junk, a space station, or any other object. space.

McDowell told CNN Business that according to his data, the Starlink satellite that approached the Chinese Space Station in July made a slight adjustment to its trajectory that could indicate that the autonomous system was working.

But he added that those systems are not as effective without more coordination.

"If I'm in China, even though I know that SpaceX has an autonomous system, I don't know if it's going to work this time," he said.

"I don't know if it's on."

Musk's reputation in China

The controversy could damage Musk's reputation in China.

Musk spent years winning over the authorities and citizens of China alike when his electric car maker Tesla broke through where other foreign companies couldn't.

Tesla was the only foreign manufacturer without a local partner to win a huge tax break for its cars in 2019, and Musk famously danced on stage during the debut of the Shanghai-made Model 3 early last year, which went viral on Weibo.

Prime Minister Li Keqiang once even said that he would be happy to give Musk a "green card from China" after the American businessman said that he "loves China very much."

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But Musk's uptake in the country has been hurt in the past year by a streak of bad publicity, including the recall of virtually all Tesla cars made in Shanghai.

The company also faced protests from Tesla owners at this year's Shanghai auto show over poor quality cars and various safety concerns flagged by Chinese regulators.

Musk, who has long shown his affinity with Chinese culture, has been taking action for a month to convince them again.

In July, he applauded the government on the Chinese Communist Party's centennial, tweeting: "The economic prosperity that China has achieved is truly amazing, especially in infrastructure. I encourage people to visit and see for themselves."

That came months after the world's richest man appeared in a rare interview with a Chinese state broadcaster, in which he raved about Beijing and said that China "will become the world's largest economy."

Musk has also predicted that the country will eventually become Tesla's most important market.

And his numerous statements have often created a stir in the country.

In November, Musk cryptically tweeted an ancient Chinese poem that is famous in the country, referring to a sibling fight.

It quickly became a trending topic on Weibo.

- The CNN bureau in Beijing contributed to this report.

ChinaElon MuskSpaceX