Two satellites, one Starlink and one Chinese, nearly collided this month as low Earth orbit fills up.
The two came within some 650 feet of each other. There are at least 24,000 objects, including debris and satellites, in LEO, and there could be 70,000 satellites by 2030.
Close passes are increasingly common: Two satellites pass within a kilometer (0.62 miles) of each other every 22 seconds, new research suggested.
Chart enumerating objects in Earth orbit
The potential outcome is “Kessler syndrome,” in which one collision creates a debris cloud, causing other collisions and eventually filling low orbit with shards of metal traveling at five miles a second.
Satellites can adjust their positions to avoid crashes, but need to know where other objects are to do so.