In a rare instance of collaboration between the space programs of China and the US, the former recently reached out to NASA to warn the space agency of a collision threat between two satellites.<\/p>\n
The warning marks a first for space traffic management, according to a space sustainability official. <\/p>\n
China and the US have historically had a strained relationship in space. The US effectively banned China from the International Space Station in 2011, and NASA officials have decried China\u2019s lack of transparency regarding rocket reentries in recent years.<\/p>\n
A positive step for US-China relations? <\/p>\n
While the US doesn\u2019t disclose sensitive data regarding military operations, it is generally transparent when it comes to information it deems important to the public and to other nations. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor years, if we had a\u00a0conjunction, we would send a note to the Chinese saying, \u2018We think we\u2019re going to run into you. You hold still, we\u2019ll maneuver around you,’\u201d Alvin Drew, director for NASA Space Sustainability, said during a\u00a0plenary session\u00a0at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Sydney, Australia, on Oct. 2, as quoted by Space.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n As China\u2019s space operations evolve at a dramatic pace, it looks like the nation might be gradually shifting to a more open communication strategy.<\/p>\n \u201cJust yesterday, we had a bit of a celebration because, for the first time, the Chinese National Space Agency reached out to us and said, \u2018We see a conjunction amongst our satellites,\u201d Drew continued. \u201cWe recommend you hold still. We\u2019ll do the maneuver.\u2019 And that\u2019s the first time that\u2019s ever happened.\u201d<\/p>\n The growing importance of collision avoidance<\/p>\n The US operates by far the most satellites in low Earth orbit, thanks largely to SpaceX\u2019s Starlink constellation. However, China is looking to challenge SpaceX\u2019s dominance with its Guowang\u00a0and\u00a0Thousand Sails\u00a0megaconstellations.<\/p>\n The rapid rise in the number of satellites in orbit means there is an increased need for global collaboration. A recent SpaceX filing<\/a> with the FCC showed that Starlink satellites had to make 50,000 collision avoidance maneuvers between 2019 and 2023. According to Hugh Lewis, a professor of astronautics at the University of Southampton in the UK, if those trends continue, Starlink satellites will have to perform roughly a million maneuvers every six months by 2028.<\/p>\n