Chinese Foreign Ministry On Tuesday, the United States urged responsibility and respect for space treaties. Beijing claims it Tykonose in the space station Tiangong They had to maneuver to avoid a collision with the satellites of the American company SpaceX.
The Chinese authorities lodged a formal protest in ONZ, arguing that astronauts on the Chinese-made Tiangong (Heavenly Palace) space station had to maneuver to avoid collision. Satellites It was launched as part of the company’s Starlink program SpaceX Designed by Elon Musk.
According to a document released by China, the SpaceX satellites and the Tiangong space station came dangerously close in July and October. “For security reasons, Chinese Station cosmic Measures have been introduced for preventive control and collision avoidance.”
These accusations sparked a wave of criticism against Musk and his company on Chinese social media. Select an Internet user Satellites Reuters reported that Starlink was “just a pile of scrap metal” and someone else considered it an element of “US space weapons”.
According to some estimates, the Earth’s orbit There are 30 thousand satellites and other man-made objects. Scientists have urged governments to share data to avoid the risks of catastrophic collisions. SpaceX alone has launched nearly 1,900 satellites as part of the large-scale Starlink project, and more are planned.
China put the main housing unit of the Tiangong station into orbit in April, with completion scheduled for 2022. There are currently three astronauts in the Tianhe unit, who have been deployed there as part of the second of four manned missions planned to prepare the station.
