China slams US over Musk's satellites 'close encounters' with space station
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Beijing accused the US of reckless space behavior following two "close encounters" between the Chinese space station and satellites launched by Elon Musk's SpaceX.
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Elon Musk's SpaceX
Beijing warned the United States on Tuesday of reckless and dangerous space behavior following two "close encounters" between the Chinese space station and satellites owned by Elon Musk's SpaceX.
According to a report submitted to the UN in December, China's new space station, Tiangong, almost collided with one Starlink satellite in July and with another in October.
The report added that the occurrences "constituted dangers to the life or health of astronauts aboard the China Space Station".
The US ignores its obligations
During a routine briefing on Tuesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said, "The US... ignores its obligations under international treaties, posing a serious threat to the lives and safety of astronauts."
Starlink, a private American firm and a branch of SpaceX, manages a constellation of almost 2,000 satellites with the goal of providing internet access to the majority of the Earth's population.
Although SpaceX has yet to react to a comment request, China stated that members of the Outer Space Treaty, the cornerstone of international space law, are liable for the activities of their non-governmental companies.
Evasive maneuvers to reduce the risk of collisions in space are becoming more frequent as more objects enter Earth's orbit, said Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, noting an increase in the number of close-calls since Starlink started deployment.
According to McDowell, a collision could be fatal for crew members and "completely demolish" the Chinese space station.
Heavenly palace
Next year, China's Tiangong station, which translates as "heavenly palace", is scheduled to become fully operative, as it entered orbit earlier this year.
Chinese social media boomed with criticism of SpaceX's billionaire founder Elon Musk, who is widely admired in China.
On the Twitter-like Weibo site, one hashtag concerning the topic garnered 90 million views on Tuesday.
Users made comments like, "How ironic that Chinese people buy Tesla, contributing large sums of money so Musk can launch Starlink, and then he (nearly) crashes into China's space station."
Another user posted, "Get ready to boycott Tesla."
Tesla, the electric car company owned by Musk, sells thousands of cars to China monthly, however, the company's image has suffered this year after a number of controversies and data security issues.
