“With the rapid expansion of commercial activities in space, the uncontrolled proliferation of commercial satellite constellations by a certain country, in the absence of effective regulation, has raised obvious challenges in the areas of safety and security,” a Chinese representative told an informal UN Security Council event.

The Chinese representative pointed to specific incidents, including dangerous approaches that almost led to Starlink satellites colliding with the Chinese space station during the years 2021 and 2022, “which posed serious threats to the safety of Chinese astronauts.”

Speaking about SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, the representative added, “Such groups of satellites crowd out frequency and orbital resources (data that all satellites in orbit share for communication purposes) and greatly increase the risk of collisions,” according to what was published by the South China Morning Post.

Many recent studies have warned that the accelerating number of satellites in orbit, in the era of huge constellations such as the Starlink fleet, sharply raises the possibility of space collisions.

Currently, of the 12,955 active satellites in low Earth orbit, the Starlink fleet constitutes than 66%, or about 8,500 satellites.

SpaceX President Elon Musk announced that the Starlink fleet may eventually include than 42,000 satellites, noting that the company currently has a license to launch 12,000 satellites.

Each of these satellites was designed to operate for five years before being deliberately disposed of by burning in the Earth’s atmosphere. Meanwhile, Chinese projects, such as the Gianfan Broadband Network, are developing a competing massive satellite constellation to provide Internet services, with the aim of competing with SpaceX.

The state-backed project in Shanghai aims to mass produce and launch than 15,000 satellites by 2030 to provide global broadband coverage.

As congestion in low Earth orbit has increased significantly since 2018, the Chinese representative called on countries to strengthen and enforce laws and regulations governing their commercial activities in space.

The representative, who was not named, added in a statement: “For satellites operated by developing countries that lack orbital control capability, space situational awareness, or adequate reaction time, this undoubtedly poses a significant risk.”

Source: Independent