Twice so far this year, China's three-member Tiangong space station was nearly hit by one of Elon Musk's SpaceX Starlink satellites. Now, the Chinese government is calling on the U.S. to take action to prevent such an event from occurring again, and Chinese citizens are harrying Musk online.
The Tiangong space station carried out "evasive measures" in order to "prevent a potential collision" with a Starlink satellite on July 1 and Oct. 21, according to a complaint filed by the Chinese government with the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. Reuters states that these events have not been verified, but other sources cite confirmation from satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell, at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
A spokesperson for the Chinese government, Zhao Lijian, said that the U.S. has failed to "protect the safety of astronauts" as required by the 1967 treaty on peace in space.
"States Parties to the Treaty shall bear international responsibility for national activities in outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, whether such activities are carried on by governmental agencies or by non-governmental entities," a note from China to the U.N. secretary-general reads.
However, according to McDowell, complaints relating to space debris rarely if ever call for additional government action. Instead, these complaints are usually filed by governments in order to warn other space programs that they've made a mistake or to complain about a mistake made by another program.
McDowell told SpaceNews that having to "dodge debris" is relatively common. Still, SpaceX is known for being particularly non-cooperative.
The Tiangong is a major prestige project for the Communist Party in China, meaning that any disruptions in its construction won't be taken lightly. That station was launched in April, with one three-person crew staying on the station until September and another that arrived to replace the first crew in October. The completion of construction is expected to take four total missions, finishing at the end of 2022.
SpaceX, meanwhile, has put roughly 2,000 Starlink satellites into orbit around the planet and plans to increase that number to 12,000. Paperwork has also been submitted with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for an additional 30,000 SpaceX satellites.
in order to establish internet access to underserved communities. On Dec. 18, another 52 satellites were put into orbit via a trip on a rocket.
Following the announcement of the Communist Party's complaint, users on China's Weibo, a Twitter
"The risks of Starlink are being gradually exposed, the whole human race will pay for their business activities," another Weibo user wrote.
SpaceX satellites are far from the only "space junk" orbiting Earth. In fact, it's estimated that 30,000 satellites and pieces of man-made debris are in the planet's orbit. Scientists say that governments need to do more to reduce the chance that these objects will collide.
Already, a NASA spacewalk was canceled in November due to the dangers posed by space debris. Following that cancelation, Musk tweeted that some of SpaceX's satellites had been adjusted to reduce the likelihood of a collision.
