Chinese Space Station and Starlink Satellites Avoid Each Other Repeatedly... Musk Severely Criticized

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Hyun-woo] It has been reported that China’s independently constructed space station performed two avoidance maneuvers to evade collisions with SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, leading to Chinese citizens directing criticism at Elon Musk and SpaceX.

According to a Chinese document posted on the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) website on the 27th (local time), the Chinese space station conducted avoidance maneuvers twice, on July 1 and October 21, to avoid approaching Starlink satellites. China stated that the space station carried out preventive collision avoidance control at that time for safety reasons.

After this fact became known, posts criticizing Musk and SpaceX’s Starlink project have continued on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter. According to the Chinese state-run Global Times, one Weibo user likened the Starlink satellites to "space debris," while another accused them of being American space weapons. Another user warned that the dangers of Starlink are becoming increasingly apparent and that all humanity will pay the price for Musk’s business.

Earlier, NASA postponed an astronaut’s extravehicular activity mission at the end of last month to prevent accidents caused by space debris approaching the International Space Station (ISS). Musk also revealed via a tweet at the time that the orbit of Starlink satellites was adjusted to reduce the possibility of collision.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.