The controversy over the "Starlink" satellite launched by SpaceX to touch the Porcelain Chinese space station is not over, and the European Space Agency has also criticized the company for "occupying too much space" in space. According to the British "Guardian" reported on December 30, Elon Musk defended SpaceX's criticism of the European Space Agency, claiming that his satellites will be able to "coexist" with many other satellites.
Elon Musk
According to the report, the new director of the European Space Agency, Ashbach, recently criticized Musk for "formulating the rules of space on his own", and Aschbach also called on European leaders to "stop helping Musk dominate the space economy". In response to Aschbach's criticism, Musk argued in an interview with the Financial Times that "space is very large and satellites are very small" and that "the situation now is not that we are effectively stopping others in any way." We're not stopping anybody from doing anything [in space], and we don't want to do that either."
Musk also compared the number of satellites in space to "2 billion cars on Earth's surface," saying that space still has "room for tens of billions of satellites": "A few thousand satellites is nothing, just like a few thousand cars on Earth, it is nothing." But the Financial Times, citing an astrophysicist, argued that satellites need larger clearances than cars to safely avoid collisions.
The Guardian said that SpaceX has launched more than 1,600 satellites, including the most recent launch on December 18, and launched another 52 satellites, making it the focus of calls for increased "space regulation". Astronomers are also increasingly worried that if launches continue unregulated, the proliferation of thousands of satellites will bring unpredictable changes to the human night sky.
Previously, the "Starlink" satellite launched by SpaceX was blasted to approach the Chinese space station twice this year, posing a threat to the Chinese space station and the lives of astronauts. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a regular press conference of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the 29th that "outer space is not an extralegal place, and all countries should respect and safeguard the international order in outer space based on international law, and adopt a responsible attitude to safeguard the life safety of astronauts in orbit and the safe and stable operation of space facilities."
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