The eccentric SpaceX CEO’s Starlink satellites have almost crashed into the Chinese space station twice. “Starlink satellites are space junk,” they swear in China.
–
The second near miss between SpaceX satellites and the Chinese Space Station in a few months is angering a lot of Chinese. “Starlink satellites are space junk,” an outraged Chinese posted on Weibo – the Chinese alternative to Twitter. Still others say Musk’s satellites are American weapons of war.
At the end of October, the Chinese Space Station had to give way to Musk’s Starlink satellite for the second time. It should have done that at the beginning of the summer. “For security reasons, the Chinese Space Station has preventive collision avoidance system activated,” said Chinese authorities. Independent sources have not yet confirmed this and SpaceX has not yet commented on the facts.
– Starlink after launch Photo: AFP
Space debris is a problem that has been hovering over our heads for some time. NASA had to cancel another spacewalk in November because too much debris flew through the atmosphere. From SpaceX alone, there are about 1900 satellites around the globe.
Musk says his satellites have been modified to minimize the risk of accidents. But according to Chinese people on Weibo, the eccentric entrepreneur will only create more space debris “and humanity will pay for its business activities.”
– .
