A pair of dangerously close space encounters are adding to tensions between the U.S. and China, while underscoring the potential peril to astronauts as satellite constellations and debris proliferate in orbit.
Two SpaceX satellites had near misses with China’s space station earlier this year — one of them within 2.5 miles — in the latest sign of dangerous overcrowding in low earth orbit.
In both instances, the orbiting lab made evasive maneuvers to avoid the Starlink satellites operated by Elon Musk’s space venture. The margin for a near-miss in October could have been as little as a few hundred meters if the astronauts on board the space station hadn’t shifted to a different altitude, according to data compiled by astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell.
